Tangible Happiness
by uniqueinkblots
Summary: FutureFicAU!Peddie - sequel to "Destination Trust" but can stand alone! Neither Eddie nor Patricia thought it would happen, but all of their hopes and dreams are suddenly within their reach. Eddie has become a successful author and Patricia a promising lawyer, fresh out of law school. The newly engaged couple ensue in planning their wedding and tackling the rest of their lives.
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

**A/N:**

And the fun continues! Welcome to the sequel of "Destination Trust." I'm assuming that people reading this have read DT. But if not, that's fine too! I recommend you read it as background information but I suppose this fic _could_ stand alone as a Peddie independent future AU. It's a little difficult to recap what happened in DT so new readers should just know that Patricia and Eddie are about 26 and engaged to one another. And for the rest of you, welcome back!

Thanks to everyone who expressed interest in seeing me write a sequel in this verse! I hope it lives up to the expectations. (I don't have a beta. All mistakes belong to me. Apologies in advance.)

******************Disclaimer:** House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

**PROLOGUE:**

Eddie jumped out of the cab and flung some cash at the driver, grateful he had thought ahead and monitored the meter throughout the ride. He speed walked through the lobby of his hotel, trying to look as casual as possible while still moving fast. As soon as he rounded the corner and the check in desk was out of sight, Eddie broke into a run, skidding to a halt in front of the elevators. He huffed in indignation. None of the elevators were on the first floor, ready to travel upwards. _Of course not._ Why would it ever be simple?

He scowled and jabbed at the up button, resisting the urge to tap his foot in impatience._ For a high end hotel, their technology could certainly be updated_, he found himself musing. He was running late and the elevator not being here wasn't helping! He refused to blame the seemingly long wait on his impatience. The problem had to be the elevators, not him. Duh. It was never his fault.

Hearing the ping of the lift, Eddie slipped inside and determinedly stabbed at the close door button until the doors slid shut. He hit the button for the 15th floor and groaned when nothing happened. "Stupid fancy hotel," he grumbled, reaching into his pants pocket and pulling his keycard out. It was the kind of elevator that needed someone to swipe their key before it moved. A split second later, the elevator began to move and Eddie nodded in satisfaction, peeking a glance at his wristwatch. Damn. He was later than he thought. Patricia was going to kill him. Maybe. It depended on her mood...provided she was even still awake.

He dashed out of the elevator and jammed his keycard into the lock, pleased when it swung open without any trouble. Snatching his laptop out of the hotel safe, he opened it up, thankful for never having powered it down. Within a minute he was connected to to the hotel wifi and on skype. (Fine. Maybe the technology in this place was working all right, after all.) Without hesitation, he clicked his fiancé's name and settled himself into his chair, hoping she would take the call. The program said she was online but it was late and it was possible she had fallen asleep what with the time difference _and _Eddie's lateness.

"Patricia!" Eddie exclaimed gleefully a moment later. "I wasn't sure you'd take the call. I thought you might have fallen asleep. I didn't wake you up, did I?" he frowned and tried to get a closer look at his fiancé's face. He was searching for signs of exhaustion or maybe anger considering he was over an hour late to their "skype date".

"Take it easy, you clown," Patricia grinned. She adjusted her laptop so that she could see Eddie's face properly while still remaining cocooned in her pile of blankets. "So what's your excuse for being late?"

"I'm sorry," Eddie groaned. He noted that Patricia didn't sound upset. That was a relief. "The function dragged on and on and my publisher wouldn't let me leave. There were important people to meet or something. But the whole party was such a bore," he wrinkled his nose in complaint.

"Yeah. Getting invited to one of the biggest events of the year for aspiring authors must have really sucked," Patricia said dryly, rolling her eyes, amusement coloring her tone. "This is your _dream, _remember? Live it up!" Eddie opened his mouth to speak and Patricia immediately shook her head. "Nope. Don't you dare spew sappy poetry at me about how _I'm _your dream. I don't want to hear it."

"You read minds now?" Eddie sulked, a little taken back at how well Patricia had him figured out. Because that was _exactly _what he had been about to say. He grinned. "You're right though. I met a lot of great people," he admitted.

"See?" Patricia encouraged. "You're having a good time in California."

"Not as good as when you were here," Eddie said honestly, beaming with pride as Patricia's face grew darker. The video quality wasn't excellent but she was obviously blushing. As usual. "I miss you," he added in earnest.

"Well whose fault is that?" Patricia challenged, her eyes shining with mirth.

"I'm trying to be romantic here. Don't tease me," Eddie grumbled. "And by the way? It's _your _fault that we're apart right now."

"My fault?! I couldn't take more time off work! It's a new job. You know that. I need to be in New York right now more than ever."

Eddie sighed, a frown etched onto his face. Of course he knew that. That didn't make things any easier though. He and Patricia had been together for over a year. They were even engaged. It had all happened so fast.

Tilting his head to the side, Eddie blinked in surprise. Come to think of it...he couldn't remember a time when he and Patricia had been apart. Her new job didn't require travel yet and up until very recently, neither had his. He was only on the go because of his book tour and Patricia had been with him for most of it. She only had to go home towards the end. Life wasn't a fairy tale and she had a job waiting for her. Otherwise, she would have stayed to support him.

The two of them weren't overly clingy but that didn't change the fact that they had been in proximity to one another every single day since they had met. Even when they had faced a couple of bad fights last year, the fact remained that they used to live across the hall from one another. They had still bumped into each other all the time and if Eddie remembered correctly, he had left a series of her notes on her door even when they were supposed to not be speaking. Apparently he sucked at that. He couldn't play it cool when it came to Patricia._  
_

"Eddie! What are you thinking about? How are we supposed to have a conversation if you're not _saying _anything?" Patricia complained, bringing him back to focus.

"Do you realize that we've never been apart for any longer than a day or two?" Eddie demanded. He watched as Patricia considered this statement, trying to find a way to counter it. She couldn't. Her eyes widened in earnest surprise, recognizing the truth of his words.

"Don't get emotional on me at three in the morning," she finally murmured. "But no. I hadn't realized."

Eddie smirked. "It's only midnight here," he pointed out.

"But it's way later here and I'm exhausted," Patricia countered. "I'm going to go, all right? Be on time tomorrow!" she admonished.

"Stupid time difference keeps messing me up," Eddie huffed. "It's not my fault."

"The time difference between LA and New York is only three hours. It's not that much, you can do better. So in conclusion, of course it's your fault." Patricia was criticizing him but her sleepy smile told Eddie she didn't really mind. She was just teasing. Had there really been a time when she had been hesitant to unleash her snide remarks and sharp sense of humor and sarcasm? Looking back, Eddie could hardly believe it.

"I'll be home in another week, don't forget. Enjoy your alone time while it lasts," Eddie warned with a teasing smile.

"I'm loving every minute of it," Patricia shot back. She brushed a little hair out of her face and smiled softly at the camera. "Really though, I can't possibly forget that you'll be home in another seven days."

"Because as an awesome lawyer you're detail-orientated?"

"Because as an awesome _fiancé, _I miss you," Patricia corrected. "Obviously."

"Obviously," Eddie repeated with a faint smile. "Okay, I guess you should go. You're right. It's late. Love you," he murmured.

"Mwah, one tacky virtual kiss for you," Patricia cooed, blowing a kiss into the screen with a sincere grin. "I love you too, Eddie," she added, disconnecting their call with one last dejected little wave. As much as she smiled and encouraged him, she missed him too. It was hard.

Eddie shut his laptop and sighed. It hadn't been a long call but he was still very glad she had even been awake at all. Not talking to Patricia for a whole day would have meant him going to bed in a bad mood. Eddie prided himself on being fully functioning but he wasn't exactly self-reliant anymore. He hadn't been since Patricia had come into his life. He had quickly morphed from teasing, flirty, young adult Eddie to committed, crazy in love with his girlfriend Eddie. And surprisingly, he didn't mind the change.

He would be 27 in another couple of months and there was no denying it - he was entering a new chapter of his life. He had a steady job. Amazing friends. A godsend of a girlfriend who he was _engaged _to. There would be a wedding. Kids. The whole package, and he was honestly so excited for it all.

Presently though, Eddie slid in between the covers and rested his hands behind his head. He had been apart from Patricia for three weeks and it would another week before he could see her in person again. Having always been a physical, touchy feely person, Eddie's life was infinitely more difficult being apart from her.

He didn't miss _talking_ to her. Not at all. Both of them were very good at keeping in touch. Patricia was busy with her job and Eddie with his tour but they would sneak a couple texts during lunch hour and breaks and either talk on the phone or Skype in the morning and evening. They were mature and old enough not to be tracking each other every single minute of every day. What made things so hard was the _physical _difference.

Eddie had long ago labeled himself a "cuddle monster" or as Patricia liked to joke a "cuddle whore." It wasn't easy not having someone to hug as a way of greeting. Someone to cuddle with, someone to lie next to at night. And obviously, he missed the sex too. This tour was taking a toll on him.

Groaning, Eddie buried his face in his pillow and pulled the comforter over his head. His alarm was set for six and tomorrow was another busy day of book signings, meetings, and interviews. He couldn't spend all night moping over how much he missed Patricia, sending her gooey text messages at all odd hours of the night.

Well actually, he could. He _so _totally could. But he wouldn't because he needed his rest and so did she.

_One more week, one more week, one more week_.

Eddie fell asleep chanting to himself. One more week till he was back with Patricia and their life together began.

God, he couldn't wait.

* * *

**A/N:**

And that would be the prologue! Lots of fun Peddie times ahead. I'm not sure how long this fic will be but it will be at least 15 chapters like DT was. I also don't know how often this will be updated but I'm shooting for weekly. Maybe Sunday evenings? I'll get back to you on that. I don't have a solid outline as of now but unlike CSOTA, my ideas are far more concrete so once I jot it down on paper and begin writing ahead a little bit, updates really should come fairly often.

That's it for now. This was just a little taste of what's to come. I am really excited about this. I've never written a sequel to anything so this should be an adventure of sorts. Please share your thoughts and comments and hit me with all your questions and concerns! I love hearing from people and it means the world to me.

Until next chapter :)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

There was an awesome response to the prologue - thanks so much! Less than what DT received but I kind of expected that. OH and I created an outline for TH that indicates it will be around 20 chapters, give or take a couple. I make this public knowledge so that when it ends, no one is caught off guard.

**Regarding the posting schedule: **I plan on updating biweekly. I know I published the prologue on a Friday, but I'm thinking about updating on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I took a peek at the calendar and assuming I consistently post on time without slipping up, this story will take us through March 19th. But knowing me, I'm bound to fall behind at some point, so I think TH will be around till potentially April.

Oh and by the way, the prologue took place towards the end of summer. This chapter is occurring around the beginning of September. Maintaining a timeline isn't particularly important, but incase you wanted a sense of time, there it is. Happy reading!

******************Disclaimer:** House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Eddie moaned and rolled over, placing a pillow over his head. Something was ringing and it wasn't his morning alarm. Growling, he burrowed deeper underneath the blankets. The ringing wouldn't stop and considering how little sleep he had gotten the night before, that was a nuisance. Suddenly, Eddie jolted awake. The ringing wasn't his alarm clock tone...it was Patricia's special ring tone. He cursed and blindly reached for his cellphone. This wasn't something he could ignore.

"Hello?" he muttered, his voice low and rough. The morning phone calls that Eddie and Patricia shared were tough on him. She would call before going in to work around eight in the morning but that was five in the morning for Eddie and he was nowhere near awake at that ungodly hour.

"Good morning," Patricia grimaced. "I feel bad about waking you up...as usual."

"I don't mind...as usual." Eddie sleepily propped himself up on one elbow and smiled a little, even though Patricia couldn't see. He was tired, but he was glad she had called. "Thanks for calling. We'll talk properly in the evening?"

"Yeah of course. But Eddie...I didn't just call to say good morning. I kind of have some bad news."

Patricia sounded miserable and that caught Eddie's attention. He was suddenly fully awake and alert. "Go ahead," he said slowly. How bad could it be? He was a little worried but Patricia sounded safe and healthy, so it couldn't be all that bad, right? Telling himself this didn't stop his heart from racing though.

"I'm not going to be able to pick you up from the airport when you land tomorrow afternoon. I have to work late. There's this important dinner meeting I need to be at," Patricia stated sadly. "In fact, you're sure to be asleep by the time I come home. I'm really sorry."

Eddie's heart sank. "Oh...um..." he held the phone, looking a little clueless. He didn't know what to say considering he had been _really _looking forward to their reunion. He settled for a dejected "I understand." Because as unfortunate as the situation was, he meant it. He really did understand.

"Eddie..." Patricia bit her lip and frowned. A meeting wasn't her fault but she couldn't help but feel terribly guilty. She could picture Eddie's disappointed, crestfallen expression. He was the kind of man who was capable of looking like a kicked puppy dog when he was sad about something. It was her ultimate weakness, seeing or imaging Eddie look like that.

"No, really," he said hurriedly, knowing how Patricia was feeling. "It's honestly okay, I understand. I swear I do. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, Eddie," she murmured. "I have to go. Let me know how all your meetings go. I'll call you tonight."

"Will do," he replied.

This time he was the one to disconnect the phone call. Patricia not being able to show up at the airport really wasn't a big deal. He knew that. But after a whole month of not seeing her, somehow it kind of was. But he refused to be immature about this. That simply wouldn't do. So instead of moping, he ensured that his alarm was set for seven and tossed it back on the nightstand before flopping back against the pillows and shutting his eyes. He would just go back to sleep and try to forget that disappointing phone call even happened.

"Good plan," he congratulated himself, before falling into a restless and fitful sleep.

* * *

"You seem kind of down," Mara observed.

"What...no..." Eddie denied, offering his agent what he hoped was a bright smile. "I'm feeling great."

"You're a writer, not an actor," Mara quipped. "Whatever the problem is though, you held yourself together in the meetings this morning. It was a spectacular end to a really solid tour," she praised.

"Thanks," Eddie hopped out of Mara's car and grabbed his suitcase before giving his agent a warm hug and friendly kiss to the cheek. "You're an awesome agent. See you in New York and thanks for the ride."

Mara waved and Eddie entered the airport, joining the queue for check-in. He couldn't help but feel bummed about the Patricia working late thing. His plan was to sleep the entire plan ride back so he wouldn't obsess over their predicament. As a writer, Eddie knew he was prone to whipping out his notebook and expressing his feelings through emotional poems and he wasn't in the mood to go the girly, artsy writer's route. Sleeping was the better option.

True to his plan, Eddie rested his head against the airplane glass and slept. The only bright moment of the flight was when he debarked and spotted a woman holding a copy of his book. That brought a true and sincere grin to his face. It reminded him about what this summer apart from Patricia had been all about. His career was important too.

He whizzed through baggage claim and headed for the exit. He didn't even glance at the long line of people waiting at the arrival gate. There were drivers holding signs and significant others clutching balloons and flowers. But Patricia wasn't there, so he didn't want to depress himself by taking in the sight of other people waiting for travelers. They weren't Patricia.

But he should have, because he would have seen her after all. She rolled her eyes as Eddie walked right past her without a second glance. "Melodramatic idiot," she fussed, rushing to catch up with Eddie. "Helloooo? Way to walk right past me!"

"Patricia?" Eddie blinked as though he was too afraid to dare to hope she was there. "Ohmigod, Patricia!" He released his grip from his suitcase and let his duffel bag slide to the ground. He surged forward and wrapped her in a gigantic, warm, stifling hug. "You're here," he mumbled into her hair, refusing to let go. "I can't believe it."

"I can't breathe," she groaned from underneath Eddie's weight. He immediately released her and mouthed a sheepish "oops" before sinking his hands into her hair and pulling her in for a happy, passionate kiss. "Public place," she gasped against Eddie's insistent mouth.

"Right. We don't do that," Eddie recalled, pulling away reluctantly. They generally kept the PDA to a minimum. He grabbed his bags with one hand and reached for Patricia's hand with the other, determined on keeping some form of contact with his fiancé. "What are you doing here?! You had a meeting..."

"Nope," Patricia said. "There was never a meeting. I just wanted to surprise you. I felt _so _bad about lying though. You sounded so sad over the phone."

"Psh, no..." Eddie denied. But his mournful grin told the truth and Patricia raised her eyebrows at him in a challenging manner. "Okay, fine!" Eddie relented. "I was sad because I thought you weren't coming to the airport. You _should _feel bad. I was torn up about it." His tone was teasing even though his words rang true.

"That's what these are for," Patricia pulled a bouquet of flowers out of her large bag and handed them to Eddie as they stepped inside a cab.

"You got me flowers?!" Eddie sounded so excited and pleased that Patricia couldn't help but laugh.

"You are such a girl," she teased.

"Why didn't you bring them into the airport?" Eddie was too busy admiring the golden flowers to make a comeback to Patricia's joke. "That would have been cool."

"You wanted me to be holding the bouquet of flowers while you enveloped me in the never-ending longest hug of all time?" Patricia sounded doubtful and Eddie paused to consider this.

"Good point," he snorted, remembering how tightly he had gripped his fiancé. "These are awesome though, thanks," he didn't hesitate to scoot over and kiss Patricia again.

"We're in a taxi," she reminded him, hissing a little. She could practically feel the taxi driver looking at them in the rearview mirror and it made her uncomfortable and awkward.

"Sorry," Eddie said innocently. "I just really missed you, gosh," he grumbled.

"I missed you too," Patricia grinned in spite of herself. "I hope this sappy overly loving thing goes away soon. It's weird and it's creeping me out."

"You love it," Eddie countered.

Patricia didn't argue because Eddie was right and she didn't mind admitting it. Never in her wildest imagination did she think she would find someone as kind and as fun as Eddie who loved her for her. Eddie could be with _anyone _but he loved _her. _Having been so disconnected from people and relationships all her life, she reveled in all the sappy moments that she and Eddie shared. She valued his presence in her life.

Eddie on the other hand, was a regular romantic and a proud one at that, so all the mushiness hardly fazed him. "I'm a writer," he'd say with pride. "Feelings don't intimidate me," he'd brag. He never had a problem expressing his feelings for Patricia.

Feeling a warm weight against her shoulder, Patricia looked down and smiled. Eddie had fallen asleep, his warm breath tickling her collarbone. "I swear, he's like a cuddly kitten or something dumb like that," she mumbled. But that didn't stop her from threading a hand through his hair and keeping his head balanced for the remainder of the cab ride. God, he was cute.

* * *

Eddie chuckled and wrapped his arms around Patricia's waist from the behind. "I'm home," he said happily, for what had to be the tenth time. He was wide awake now, and clearly excited to be back in New York.

"Actually, we're in the elevator," Patricia corrected. "And your bags are about to get left in the lobby unless you let go of me and pick them up," she said. Eddie pretended to consider it which earned him a slap on the back of the head.

"All right, fine," he whined dramatically, picking up his bags and stepping back inside the elevator. "But I must warn you. I'm feeling extra cuddly today," he announced.

"Not news to me," Patricia replied with a smirk. "You're extra cuddly every day."

She unlocked the apartment door and grabbed one of Eddie's bags. Holding the other one, Eddie stepped inside and looked around. "Wow. We really need to get furniture for this place soon," he observed. "And unpack too."

Patricia nodded in agreement. They had technically given up their respective apartments and moved into this larger one in the beginning of the summer, but neither of them had spent much time in it. Eddie had been on his book tour for three months and Patricia had been with him for two out of the three. Busy with her new job, she would work all day and return in the night to eat and sleep, nothing else.

Therefore, she hadn't touched most of the boxes. She hadn't wanted to order furniture without Eddie either, so she had been sleeping on an air mattress and managing with two folding chairs and a makeshift coffee table to lean on when doing paperwork.

"We need to officially move ourselves in," Eddie said, making a face at the stack of boxes. "It's been too long."

"Now that you're back, we can," Patricia said. "Because I'm not about to do the heavy lifting."

"No, of course not. Besides, handling cardboard boxes is my favorite thing to do," Eddie joked, referring to when they had first met and he had helped her with her empty packaging.

"We've come a long way since then," Patricia said thoughtfully, remembering how they had met in the Hudson River Apartment Building. She settling onto the air mattress and grabbed a takeout menu from a neat stack on the floor. "Chinese?"

"Sounds good," Eddie called from the bathroom.

A moment later Patricia heard the shower begin to run and she reached for her cellphone, still smiling at the domesticity of it all. She felt all warm and fuzzy and in love.

It was a wonderful feeling.

* * *

True to his word, Eddie was exceptionally clingy and cuddly all evening long. He readily chatted about the events of his tours but only in between stolen kisses and long hugs. But eventually, all talking ceased and they focused on making up for all the time they spent apart physically. (For someone who was so initially shy about sex, Patricia sure had come a long way.) The rest of the night was spent in a more than satisfying way.

The next morning, the first thing Eddie did was poke Patricia. "You awake?" he whispered.

"Did you really just poke me?" Patricia snuggled closer to Eddie and wrapped an arm around his waist, pillowing her head on his arm. "I'm awake."

"Oh, good. Hey Patricia?" A beat of silent passed before Eddie spoke again. "First piece of furniture we order is the bed. It would make a _world _of difference for when we..."

Patricia released her hold on Eddie and plugged her hands in her ears. "La la la not listening!" she sang.

"How can you still feel awkward talking about sex?" Eddie protested. "I mean...we do it all the time and..."

"Eddie!"

"Ok, fine!" he threw his hands up in surrender. "But for the record, let it be known that I wasn't going to say _for __when we have sex, _I was going to say: _for when we practice making babies."_

"Oh my god."

"What?" Eddie grinned. "You don't like that either?"

_"Oh my god!" _Patricia wailed again.

"I'm going to like being married to you," Eddie declared. "You get flustered very quickly. I enjoy that."

"Stop teasing me! Be serious!"

"Lawyers are no fun," Eddie pouted. "But in all seriousness, I did have something I wanted to ask you." Patricia looked at Eddie's face. His expression was now sober, holding no traces of the laughter from moments before. "We're engaged."

"That's not a question," Patricia murmured.

"Yeah...uh..." Eddie grimaced, pausing to find words. This worried Patricia. It wasn't often that Eddie was at a loss for words. He was a _writer _for crying out loud. "We've been engaged all summer. So here's the question. When are we going to tell our families?"

Patricia sighed. It was a fair question. Eddie had wanted to tell his parents the night it happened, but Patricia had requested him not to. She hadn't forced him, but she had expressed interest in keeping it a secret for a little bit and Eddie had grudgingly agreed, even though Patricia hadn't offered an explanation as to why she wanted to do so. But an entire summer had passed, and Eddie was well within his rights to bring the issue up. He only hoped Patricia wouldn't get angry or upset. He hated fighting with her.

"It's just...I'm really excited about this," Eddie continued. "I wanted to tell my parents ages ago, especially my dad. It feels wrong to keep this a secret. Not even our friends know and that's just weird for me because Fabian is like the brother I never had." Eddie finished speaking and braced himself for Patricia's potential wrath.

"You're right," Patricia surprised Eddie with her calm and rational tone. She even offered him a sheepish smile. "We probably should have made the phone calls a long time ago, huh?" Eddie nodded and Patricia reached out and rubbed his arm. "We'll call next week, okay? I promise. Just give me one more week."

Eddie looked a little uneasy but didn't protest. Noticing Patricia's pleading expression, he didn't even ask why she was so reluctant to tell her parents. He stood up from the air mattress and headed for the kitchen. He looked around, scratching his head in confusion. "Uh. I'd make coffee but..."

"I haven't unpacked the coffeemaker," Patricia finished with a rueful grin.

"Please, woman. It's not just the coffee maker. You haven't unpacked _anything."_

Patricia's answering move was to hurl a pillow at Eddie's head. He didn't duck in time and howled in indignation. ("Ow! Patricia!") She beamed. It sure was nice to have Eddie home again. She'd missed having someone to push around and give a hard time.

* * *

**A/N:**

LOL Patricia's constant refusal to talk about sex. She's wonderfully awkward in that regard. Speaking of awkward - there won't be smut in this story because it's not something I can do justice. It can be fun to read but it's not something I'm capable of writing. If I ever make references to sex, they'll be very general and not at all graphic, like was done in this first chapter. We're going to keep it clean.

Also - I made Mara work as Eddie's agent. Hooray for guest appearances! She won't be a major part of this story, just a cameo that may pop up here and there.

Anyway, thanks so much reading the first chapter! Please share your comments; I truly value each and every one of them so I'd love to hear from some new people in addition to my wonderful regulars. Haha, I know you silent people are there - come say hello! See you all next time :)


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**

Oh my god, I already ditched my posting schedule, who am I? -hides- Sorry about that! I'm thinking that twice a week might not always happen considering how I failed to update even once this past week. No strict promises but I think this is how it's going to be: I will strive to update every Tuesday and consider Saturday updates a bonus of sorts. Let's see how that goes since I obviously fail at keeping my word.

Anyway, I'm so pleased that people seemed to like the first chapter. Thanks so much for the encouraging reviews! This chapter takes place about a week after the last, so we're looking at early September as in the beginning of the second week or so. It's a minor detail but I thought I'd provide the information.

******************Disclaimer:** House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

One week later, and the far wall of their future dining room was still lined with stacked boxes. Despite all the unpacking talk, it simply hadn't happened. Eddie and Patricia were both busy with their jobs, and oddly enough, Eddie was the more stressed of the two. Usually it was the other way around, but this past week, Eddie had been the one who was swamped.

He had been promoted last spring, but because of his hectic summer book tour, hadn't gotten the chance to learn the ropes of his new position. Now he was finally undergoing the job training, but all the new responsibilities left him tired and on edge. He was so overwhelmed, that he hadn't nagged Patricia about calling her parents, let alone unpack or order new furniture.

Patricia had been taking advantage of Eddie's exhaustion. Since he hadn't brought up the phone call, neither had she. Unlike Eddie, she was managing her work perfectly fine, which left her with ample time to think about the call she should have made by now. She couldn't help putting it off though. Talking to her parents and getting them to understand was such a struggle. It always had been.

Patricia was so distant from them…not just physically, but mentally too. Her parents thought they understood her, but they really didn't. Her time at boarding school and college had changed her as a person, helped her become who she is. Therefore, calling to announce an engagement simply would not be received well. She was so disconnected from her parents that a million questions would ensue. They'd ask why they weren't informed she was seeing someone, how long it had been serious for, what kind of person he was, if she was sure this who she wanted to be with, etc.

In all honestly, they would be well within their rights to ask these questions; any good parent would be. But that was the thing - in Patricia's opinion, her parents didn't qualify as _good_. They weren't bad people; in fact, they were full of good intent. But they were terribly misguided, and that's why their concern would seem insincere...fake.

Sure, they would be worried and curious about Patricia's welfare and future with Eddie, but Patricia didn't want their belated concern. Where had it been when she was a child? Hell, where had it been when she was an _adult, _studying in the states? Patricia wasn't one to appreciate inconsistency, and that's _exactly _what her parents were.

So no - breaking her engagement to her parents was not a conversation she was looking forward to having. And as close as she and Eddie were, it was hard to explain this to him. But she had put it off long enough. She had promised she would call this week.

Sighing, she picked up the phone. She had better call now before it got too late. And before Eddie got home. She wanted to have this conversation in private since it was bound to get complicated.

Her parents picked up on the second ring.

_"Patricia!"_

"Hi mom," Patricia flopped onto the air mattress, knowing this conversation would take some time.

_"We haven't heard from you in a little while. How are you doing? Are you all right?_"

"I'm fine. Actually, I'm great. I kind of how some big news too."

_"What is it?"_

"I'm engaged."

_"What?"_

"Engaged. As in...getting married? Wearing a ring? Starting a life with a man I love?"

_"...what?_

Patricia swallowed, hard. This was already looking pretty bad. "I know you heard what I said," she mumbled.

_"Engaged to who? When did this happen? I didn't even know you were dating somebody! This is too sudden. What were you thinking? Have you lost your - "_

"And this is exactly why I was avoiding calling you!" Patricia exclaimed. "Immediate questions that are all negative. Why can't you just be happy for me?" she demanded. "I'm an adult, you can't tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing. Being in love doesn't qualify as losing my mind!"

_"You're in love?"_

Patricia heard her mother's tone soften and sighed in relief. "Yes I am," she said stiffly. "His name is Eddie."

_"...I'm not happy you didn't tell me or your father about this. And this conversation is nowhere near over. But go on. Tell me about him."_

And so she did.

It took over an hour for Patricia to explain how she met Eddie and their history together and that was the _abridged _version. She bit back the frustration of talking to her mother and focused on communicating her feelings regarding her fiancé. She did her best to explain the depth of their connection and love, all the while knowing that her mother wouldn't understand. She would simply dwell on the fact that she hadn't been told sooner.

And sure enough...

_"So you're telling me you've been engaged all summer and I, your mother, am just finding out now? How could you?"_

"Forget it," Patricia snapped. "I didn't call to hear your criticism. I didn't even call for _you, _I called for Eddie. I would have put it off even longer, because talking to you is that infuriating!"

_"Patricia - "_

"No. I have to go. Tell Dad." Patricia muttered some halfhearted excuse of having work to do and hung up without a second thought. "Unbelievable!"

Patricia knew she was overreacting. She had had _far _worse conversations with her mother. But her relationship with her parents were already strained, so talking to them was tough to begin with. She had_ known _announcing her engagement would suck. She had _known _her mother would focus on only herself and on how she hadn't been informed.

It was infuriating! Was it so hard for her mother to be happy for her? Deep inside, Patricia knew her mother was probably thrilled that she had found someone, but it wasn't like she planned on admitting that. Her mother would never; she was too self-absorbed.

Angry thoughts swirled through Patricia's mind. She was overwhelmed with frustration. Scowling, she suddenly realized that she was in a _terrible_ mood. She had better calm down before Eddie got home. The last thing she wanted to do was take it out on him.

With that thought in mind, she grabbed a light jacket and reached for the doorknob just as Eddie twisted his key through the look. He poked his head inside and looked at Patricia with faint surprise.

"Where are you going?" he pouted.

"I was going to take a walk," she said shortly.

In the midst of unknotting his tie, Eddie looked up sharply. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Patricia ducked her head before looking up and offering him a weak smile. "I'm great."

Eddie nodded suspiciously. He knew that wasn't at all true, but pushing Patricia wasn't usually wise. "Good," he replied. "Then don't go anywhere. I haven't seen you all day, let's talk!"

Patricia rolled her eyes. They had to be the _only _couple in the world where "let's talk" was usually a positive thing. Just as she was about to answer, her cellphone rang.

"Hold that thought," she said to Eddie before answering the phone. "Hello?"

_"Patricia! Mom just called me and filled me in. You're marrying your cute neighbor and you didn't think to tell your own sister?"_

Patricia groaned. "Piper, don't start."

_"We're more than sisters. We're twin sisters, we're like the same person!"_

"No we're not," Patricia objected darkly.

_"Yes we are! How could you not tell me? Aren't I important enough? I'm so upset and - "_

"You're upset? _You're upset? _You know what, no. _I'm _upset. There is a reason why I was so reluctant to tell you guys! I knew this is what the reaction would be! You and mom are both ranting about how I didn't tell you, but neither of you stopped for a minute to be happy for me or anything. None of you guys care about me! And God knows what Dad thinks because he didn't even _bother _to come on the line when I called mom so _no, _I don't care if you're more upset. I can guarantee I'm more upset!"

_"Patricia - "_

She heard the remorse in Piper's voice but she shook her head, positively enraged. "I don't want to hear it!" she snapped, before snapping her cellphone shut.

Eddie stared at her with wide eyes. "So when I asked what's wrong and you said nothing, you obviously lied," he said, attempting to joke.

"Now is not the time for jokes," Patricia snapped.

Eddie flinched, but nodded. He had only heard one side of the conversation but it had been enough. Clearly, Patricia had called her family and _clearly, _it hadn't gone well.

Patricia sat on the air mattress, arms crossed. She was deep in thought, clearly stewing. Had the furniture been in place, she would have gone to the spare bedroom for some privacy, but that wasn't an option yet.

"So um...you probably don't want to talk about what just happened," Eddie said slowly, treading lightly. "Which is totally fine. But I just wanted to let you know that I called Fabian and Nina on my way home from training and they're really happy for us. They're so excited."

"Of course _your _friends would be excited," Patricia finally responded, her tone laced with bitterness.

"They're your friends too," he said softly, wincing at her words.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I don't really feel like talking right now," Patricia said rudely.

Eddie raised an eyebrow before taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I noticed," he finally said, a little sarcastic. He was trying to stay patient because he _knew _Patricia was having a rough evening, but it was hard. He was tired and this isn't the kind of situation he had wanted to come home too. "Be right back," he said, turning on his heel and going to the master bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched in his dad's number. Sure, Patricia's phone call hadn't gone well, but when she was ready, they would talk about it. The important thing was that now that she had told her parents, he could tell _his. _

"Hi Dad," he said, immediately cheering up at the sound of his father's voice. "Hope I didn't wake you up. No? Great, because I have something I wanted to tell you." Eddie took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm engaged to Patricia Williamson."

_"Eddie! That's fantastic news, my boy! I am so happy for you."_

"I knew you would be," Eddie found himself grinning. "I'm going to call mom after this too. Isn't this great?"

_"Truly marvelous. It's getting late and I have an early morning meeting with Victor tomorrow, but after the school day is out let's ski on the computer?"_

"Ski in the..." Eddie trailed off confused, before he burst out laughing. "Do you mean _Skype? _Yeah sure, dad. Sounds good."

_"Yes, Skype! Isn't that what I said?_

"Not at all," Eddie chuckled. "Good night, Dad."

He hung up the phone and then left his mother a cheerful voicemail because she hadn't picked up. Turning around, he saw Patricia standing in the doorway.

"I can't believe you," she accused.

"...Excuse me?" Eddie's eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"You were hiding when you called your parents!"

"Hiding?" Eddie repeated. "No, I was just having a conversation in private. There's nothing wrong with that. _You _talked to your parents when I wasn't even home! I know that was on purpose."

"That's not the same. You _hid._"

"That doesn't make any sense!" Eddie protested in defense. "If I _hid, _then you _eavesdropped_."

"I did not!" Patricia shrieked. "It just _figures _that my parents wouldn't be happy for me but yours would be happy for you! It's so unfair!" A tear of frustration rolled down her cheek and Eddie immediately softened. He took a step closer, laying a gentle hand on her arm.

"I can't help how my parents feel," he reminded her softly. "You're a logical person. You know this isn't my fault. I'm sorry that things didn't go smoothly with your family, but - "

"Sorry isn't good enough!" Patricia pushed his arm away and stalked out of the bedroom.

"Patricia, this is ridiculous!" Eddie said, growing upset. The one thing about Patricia he would _never _understand is how she managed to be professional and rational in her job as a lawyer but lost it when it came to anything personal. Logic only worked for her in her job, it seemed. "I don't understand why you're mad at me!"

"Neither do I!" Patricia admitted, her voice still raised.

At Patricia's admission, Eddie couldn't help but crack a smile. It was _funny. _Even Patricia was admitting that she had no clue where her temper tantrum was coming from.

"Do. not. laugh. at. me." Patricia growled.

Her punctuated speech only resulted in Eddie chuckling. It was short lived though. Patricia picked up a pillow and tossed it at his head. Unlike last week, the action wasn't playful.

"Take it easy!" Eddie said.

"No! I'd throw something harder if we were unpacked!"

"Listen, Patricia - "

"I don't want to talk to you," she said coldly, marching to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she emerged clad in pajamas. She headed to the air mattress and laid down, pulling the covers up to her shoulder. "I don't want you here."

Eddie flinched. _That _stung. He was a touchy feely person, everyone knew that. _Especially _Patricia. And she had chosen to bar him from the mattress.

He looked around helplessly. It's not like he had somewhere else to sleep. If he left the apartment that would be considered running away, and that would just make the fight escalate. This wasn't a big enough fight for him to leave home. In fact, it wasn't even a _fight. _It was just one of those times where Patricia decided to abandon all reason and take out her anger on Eddie.

Besides, crashing at Fabian's place wouldn't be the same anymore. Now that he and Nina were married, Eddie would feel like he was imposing.

So he rummaged through one of the open boxes and found a pile of blankets and set up a makeshift sleeping area in the master bedroom. He pillowed his head on a folded up sweatshirt, not willing to go back to the living room and pull the extra pillow from next to Patricia.

He shifted uncomfortably and sighed.

The ground was cold and hard, the blankets were too thin, and he was pretty sure he was going to hit his head at least a couple times throughout the night.

But the worst part was, Patricia wasn't at his side.

He should be frustrated with her. Or angry even. She had completely lost her cool and rejected all of his attempts to comfort her.

But somehow, he just felt lonely.

* * *

**A/N: **

Oh, look - drama! Because clearly, I enjoy torturing the poor couple. I do have my opinions on the events of this chapter aka the "fight" if it can even be called that. I would love to hear yours!

This was a decently sized chapter I suppose so I hope it makes up for the wait!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

I had so much fun reading peoples' opinion on the "fight" Eddie and Patricia had - thanks for the reviews! A lot of people felt bad for Eddie (I did too) but found Patricia's rude behavior kind of amusing. Patricia taking out her frustration on Eddie was supposed to come off as light drama and I think it did. It wasn't anything too emotionally stressful, or at least it wasn't meant to be!

Read onwards for the resolution :) This chapter takes place a day after the last.

******************Disclaimer:** House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Eddie woke up feeling stiff. He stretched his aching arms out and tentatively rolled his neck, wincing at the pang of discomfort he felt from spending the night on the wooden floor. Mumbling sleepily, he turned to the right to crack his back. When he turned to the left to do the same thing, he was met with the sight of Patricia sitting cross-legged, a mere couple of inches away from him and his makeshift bedding.

He eyed her warily, opting not to say anything. Waiting for Patricia to speak, Eddie settled himself so he was lying on his back, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. He cleared his throat awkwardly, willing her to talk to him. An apology would be nice, he vaguely thought.

Patricia was sitting with her arms tightly wound around Eddie's pillow that he hadn't been able to use last night. She wordlessly released her grip on the pillow and inched closer, slipping it under his head with ease. Eddie didn't protest, sighing in relief at the soft texture and support under his head.

Next, Patricia pushed Eddie gently, easing him onto the air mattress. Knowing it would be hard for her to lift him, Eddie supported his own weight and helped his fiancé move him into the mattress. His back instantly felt better and he snuggled into his blanket for a quick moment before throwing it aside and sitting up with a start.

"The air mattress was in the living room! You moved it?"

Patricia shrugged. "I don't know why we kept it in the living room anyway. This is the master bedroom so this is where it should be," she reasoned.

"We had it in the living room because it doubled as a place to sit," Eddie snorted.

"Oh, right," Patricia murmured sheepishly with a rueful grin. "Well it's here now. I moved it this morning while you were still sleeping."

"You shouldn't have moved it yourself," Eddie chastised with a frown. "I would have helped."

"It's an _air _mattress, Eddie. It's not that heavy, and besides. I'm a big girl. I can be a mature adult and handle my own lifting."

"About being a mature adult..." Eddie trailed off, hoping Patricia would take the bait and approach the topic of what happened last night.

Patricia hung her head. "I guess last night I wasn't very mature," she admitted reluctantly, wringing her hands together. "I was really upset. And the funny thing was, I didn't want to get mad at you and say untrue things I'd regret. I was going to take a walk to cool off but then you came home and wanted me stay and..."

"So it's my fault?" Eddie teased. He had already forgiven her; he truly wasn't one to hold grudges. Being mad at someone took far too much effort in his opinion. It was hardly ever worth it.

"No!" Patricia said. "I just...my parents aren't happy for me," she changed the subject, frowning deeply. "Actually, I think they're secretly thrilled, but as usual, they're trying to create problems. My mom kept complaining about how I hadn't told her about you and my dad didn't talk to me at all! I don't think he was home, but that's not the point. And then Piper called with similar complaints and by then..."

She didn't finish her sentence but Eddie understood. He nodded sympathetically and sleepily patted her hand. Now that he was laying on a more comfortable surface with a pillow and warmer blankets, he was suddenly _so _tired.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Patricia said softly. "And that I didn't let you sleep on the mattress with me. That was mean. Especially since you had nowhere to go," she looked around their unfurnished apartment and blushed, her guilt intensifying. She shouldn't have made Eddie fend for himself last night; he hadn't done anything wrong.

"I didn't realize the word _sorry _was in your vocabulary," Eddie joked, yawning through his sentence.

"Don't make fun of me," Patricia scolded, gently slapping his shoulder. "Just accept the apology with grace."

"Accepted," Eddie mumbled, blinking to keep his eyes open. Tiredness was consuming him.

Patricia grinned. She leaned down to take a look at Eddie's face. The blankets were drawn up to his chin and he was looking at Patricia through half lidded eyes, slurring all his words. "You didn't sleep at all, did you?"

"It was uncomfortable," he muttered. "Your fault."

"This is one of those rare moments where you're right," Patricia joked. "It's a Saturday morning though, so sleep in. You should rest considering you hardly slept last night."

"I never sleep in," Eddie protested, trying to sit up.

Patricia rolled her eyes and pushed him back down. She rubbed his back for all of two minutes before he succumbed to sleep, snoring lightly in a manner of minutes. When Patricia next leaned over to peek at his face, Eddie was fast asleep, his breathing already deep and even.

She shook off the last bit of guilt over making Eddie sleep on the ground and stood and stretched. Had their apartment been furnished, he wouldn't have _had _to sleep on the floor. It was about time they got their act together and bought furniture. With that thought in mind, Patricia determinedly reached for her laptop and settled onto the other side of the air mattress, careful not to disturb her snoozing boyfriend.

Eddie was laying on his side, his back facing Patricia. She could see the outline of his shoulders rising and falling under the comforter and she grinned to herself. He was completely out, and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. She had about three hours to online shop her way into having a fully furnished apartment.

Challenge accepted.

* * *

It was the bright light that eventually woke Eddie up. He blindly reached for his cellphone to check the time and squinted at the screen. "It's past two!" he exclaimed, detangling himself from the blankets in a rush. He pushed Patricia's shoulder. "How could you let me sleep past two? I never sleep that late. I have to get work and I'm _starving _so I have to eat too. Oh my god."

"Abusive," Patricia huffed, rubbing her arm. "And cool it, workaholic. It's a _Saturday,_" she said.

Eddie stared at her in confusion until the memories of earlier this morning flooded his mind. "We had a fight. And you _apologized,_" he recalled gleefully, wide awake now.

"Don't get used it," Patricia warned. "It's not likely to happen twice."

"And you moved the air mattress?" Eddie asked distractedly, looking around.

"We had this conversation at seven this morning. You slept for six hours but it's like you were in a coma," Patricia waved a hand in front of Eddie's face, amused. "You don't remember anything."

"Of course I do," Eddie objected. "I was just tired, which if I recall correctly, was your fault. So anyway, what have you been doing all morning? The day is half over."

"I ordered all our furniture," Patricia said casually with a hint of pride.

She had spent hours combing through various furniture catalogues, picking the pieces she thought would look best. Eddie and her and had discussed what they wanted to put in each room, so she had gone ahead and ordered. It was honestly about time they placed the shipment.

"What? All of it?" Eddie paused in the middle of buttoning a fresh shirt and blinked owlishly at Patricia. "While I was sleeping?"

"Do you mind?" Patricia looked up from folding the extra blankets and sheets with a grim expression. "I didn't even think about consulting you, which I guess I should have. I just didn't think you'd really care since we had discussed the basics. Please don't be mad. I can't handle when you get dramatic."

"You can't handle when I get dramatic?" Eddie repeated with a smirk. "When do you ever have to? It's always the other way around. But anyway, no. I don't care at all. I'm glad it's done," he rubbed his lower back for emphasis, glaring at their wooden floor.

"Great," Patricia said in relief. "Want to see what I ordered?"

"Sure, hold on," Eddie called over his shoulder, already half way to the kitchen.

He emerged a few minutes later, holding a bowl of cereal and a glass of water. He plopped down beside Patricia who glanced into his bowl before giggling.

"Cinnamon Toast Crunch? That's for kids, Eddie! There's so much sugar in it, too."

"It's my favorite though," he pouted.

"When did you even buy that?" Patricia was smiling absently as she pulled up the tabs of all the websites she'd ordered from. "You didn't get it when we went to the supermarket last week."

"Got it on the way home from work," Eddie admitted sheepishly. "I'm allowed, okay?! Accomplished writer rights."

"What does sugary cereal have to do with being accomplished?"

"...don't ruin my moment of glory," Eddie finally huffed.

Patricia shot him a wide grin before turning her laptop to face him. "Check it out," she scrolled through the various furniture pieces, explaining her vision for each one.

Eddie put down his empty bowl and reached for one of his numerous notepads that just happened to be strewn all over the apartment. "We need paper!" he said dramatically.

"Of course we do," Patricia teased. She thought it was hilarious how Eddie was constantly jotting things down whether it was his pieces for work or a to-do list because he simply couldn't remember anything. He depended on paper.

"We've got to keep track of what is going to go where!" Eddie defended himself with an embarrassed scowl.

Patricia pinched his cheek. "Don't stress, I still think you're cute," she said.

Eddie beamed in response and continued to write their thoughts down. The pair spent the rest of the afternoon planning where everything would go. Eddie suggested they draw pictures to help them visualize object placement but his images were so pitiful that Patricia had snatched the notepad and taken over. Peering over her shoulder, Eddie's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"I didn't know you could draw," he said, taken aback.

"What do you think I did in class all day long?" she said with an innocent smirk.

"You goofed off in law school?"

"High school," Patricia corrected with a scoff. "And maybe a bit of undergrad too. Anyway, here it is. A blueprint for our apartment. Pretty cool, huh? Now what?"

"Well...remember in your old place how colorful the walls were?"

"I remember you asking me to show you my bedroom," Patricia snorted.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Eddie howled, chuckling at the fond memory. "I thought it was awesome how every single room had a different color scheme. Let's make this place the same. Let's paint. Can we do that?"

"Pretty sure it's in the lease agreement," Patricia replied, getting up and reaching for a big manila folder in the corner of the room. They had stalked all of their mail and important documents in one place until they had a table and file cabinet. Pulling out the agreement, she skimmed it and beamed. "Yup. As long as we paint the walls white when we move out, we're free to do what we want to the walls."

"Fantastic," Eddie enthused. "I love being engaged to someone who actually understands all that nonsense paperwork. Life is so good."

"And it's about to get better!" Patricia returned to her laptop and pulled up yet another website with paint colors and room layouts. Let's pick our colors, go buy the paint, and get working."

"You want to start painting? Today?"

"Sure," she answered. "We've got two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a dining area, and two bathrooms. This is a generously sized apartment. Let's paint the two bedrooms and one bathroom today and leave the rest for tomorrow. Why not, right?"

"Right," Eddie agreed. "I don't argue with lawyers," he joked.

They slipped their jackets on and exited their apartment complex, cheerfully chatting the entire walk to the Home Depot. They could have easily taken the subway and gotten there in under ten minutes, but it was a nice day, and they felt like walking. There was a light breeze in the air and Eddie liked walking past the park and hearing children laugh and run around.

Their old apartment complex had been further uptown, but this one was a little closer to the heart of Manhattan while still being out of the way of Times Square and all the tourism. They now lived somewhere between midtown and uptown and it was perfect.

Eddie kicked a stray soccer ball back to a group of young boys playing in the park and grinned. "Love this city," he said.

After an exhausting couple of hours at the Home Depot, Eddie and Patricia returned home, this time taking a cab. Buying paint in bulk was not an easy task, their were several cans and they were all pretty heavy. Finally getting all the cans loaded onto the elevator with the help of the doorman, Eddie and Patricia made their way back to their flat.

"I'm hungry," Eddie complained.

"We haven't even started painting," Patricia shot him her best _are you kidding me _look and Eddie immediately withered, making a small face before prying open the first can. "Master bedroom first," she ordered.

They decided to paint their bedroom two colors. Two of the walls were a gentle, pale shade of light green while the other two were a cross between sky blue and gray.

"Blue and green walls, this looks amazing!" Eddie cheered.

"Blue and green? That's as detailed as the writer can go?"

The green is as bright as freshly cut grass, complete with dew glistening from the gentle rays of the sun. The blue, on the other hand, resembles a not the depths of the ocean, but the _surface, _symbolizing - "

"Shut up, Eddie."

"...fine," Eddie stuck his tongue out and grabbed their pile of takeout menus. "Starving. Pizza now?"

"Soon," Patricia promised. "These rooms aren't that big. Come on, let's knock the other one out and the bathroom too."

Eddie groaned but followed her, reluctantly picking up his paint roller and following Patricia's instructions. Since she had done this before, she knew where exactly to put the painters' tape and how to use the brush against the walls. Eddie followed her every last word, knowing that if he screwed up, he wouldn't stop hearing about it for the rest of eternity.

Several hours later, and the spare bedroom was an interesting cross between red and pink.

"It's weird but I like it," Eddie said, tilting his head to the side. "Definitely more pink than red, though."

"No way, I don't do pink," Patricia wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It's like a watered down red."

"Whatever you say," Eddie teased, dragging their setup to the master bedroom. That the left white, accenting with the blue and green from their bedroom.

"We're artists," Patricia stepped back to survey their work. "This looks so good."

"We're hungry artists," Eddie muttered.

Feeling sorry for her poor fiancé, Patricia dialed their favorite pizza place and ordered food for delivery immediately. "You've earned it," she mouthed, covering the receiver with a cheeky smile.

Eddie patted his growing stomach and nodded.

Naturally, when the front desk notified them that their food had arrived, Eddie volunteered to get it. He bound back up a few minutes later, stepping into their apartment smiling widely from ear to ear, boxes in hand.

"Dinner," he announced. "By the way, are we going to die of paint fumes?"

Patricia giggled at the concern in his tone. "Nope, we've been airing the place out. It won't smell the greatest, but you're definitely not going to die."

"Always good news," Eddie said, satisfied. He was barely on his second slice of pizza when Patricia's cellphone rang.

"Can you grab that for me? It's probably Amber or something."

Glancing at the screen, Eddie's eyes widened and he silently handed Patricia her phone. "It's not Amber."

The words _MOM_ were flashing across the screen and Patricia groaned. "I suppose I should take this," she mumbled.

"Stay calm this time," Eddie suggested.

Patricia nodded tightly, slipping into their newly painted bedroom and emerged about a half hour later.

"Hi," Eddie said cautiously through a mouthful of pizza. "How'd it go?"

"Fine, I guess. I was too tired to argue."

"Argue what exactly?"

"The fact that we'll be going to London before the wedding. My parents insist on meeting you as soon as possible."

Eddie choked on his pizza and Patricia immediately hastened to his side, handing him his can of soda and hastily patting his back. When he could breathe again, he gasped and spluttered.

"Excuse me?"

* * *

**A/N:** Wohooo Patricia and Eddie for finally getting their act together and getting their apartment in order. It's about time. I'm not exactly awesome at cliffhangers but the ending to this chapter was me attempting to get everyone curious and excited for the next one. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't - LOL who knows? I tried! As always, kindly share your comments and thoughts :)


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

Hi there :) Reading the reviews for the last chapter was so much fun for me - thanks for all the enthusiasm! Everyone seems to be excited about the idea of Eddie meeting Patricia's parents, which I'm so happy about. The London trip is definitely going to happen but not in this chapter or even in the next. (According to my outline, it happens around chapter 13 so we have a long way to go.) If I'd update faster we'd get there sooner so I'll work on that. Life is hectic as usual and I'm updating super slow which I do apologize for.

This chapter takes place about a day after the last for those maintaining the timeline.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Eddie flew into the kitchen and took a swig of orange juice from of the container before darting out of the apartment, front door slamming shut behind him. He was relieved Patricia had left for work first because she would have scolded him for not pouring the juice into a glass. He examined his shirt for stains as he raced down the stairs and sighed in relief; there was thankfully no orange on the pristine white.

He hastily shrugged on his coat and hailed a cab. Normally on beautiful autumn day like today, Eddie would take the subway till he was in the general neighborhood of his work place and walk the rest of the way. If he had enough time, he wouldn't even take the train at all. Today wasn't one of those days though. Having stayed up late the night before, Eddie had no time to spare.

It was around three in the morning when he and Patricia had finally drifted off to sleep. After the phone call from her parents, the two of them had naturally had a lot to discuss. Eddie's first reaction to visiting her parents had been absolute horror. He had heard Patricia tell stories about her militaristic father and distant mother. He remembered all the times Patricia had been upset because of them. For God's sake, her little meltdown in the hallway of their own building was still as clear as day to Eddie.

He knew Patricia's parents were perfectly good people, but that didn't mean he was eager to meet them. He was extremely nervous, mostly because of the unspoken tension and awkward relationship between them and his fiancé. Still, he hadn't been to the UK in a long time. If they were going to visit Patricia's parents, they would probably get to also visit Eddie's father and the school he ran.

The prospect of seeing a snapshot of Patricia's youth was fascinating to Eddie. She had attended his father's school from middle school through graduation. That was seven years worth of education. Eddie was almost jealous of his father. After all, he had known Patricia for far longer than Eddie.

Presently arriving at his office, Eddie paid the cab driver and joined his team of writers. His training was finally complete, and he was getting started on a new chapter of his career. Ever since the publication and success of his book, Eddie's credibility had skyrocketed. He suddenly had so much more responsibility. But rather than feeling intimidated, he felt right like he was right where he belonged. He had been born for this kind of job. Having a decently ranking position in _The New York Times _was more than he could have ever hoped for.

"Morning, boss," Nina said cheerfully, handing her good friend a cup of coffee. "You look like you need this."

"I do," Eddie said gratefully, accepting the cup and inhaling the strong scent. He already felt more awake and he hadn't even sipped the drink.

"Late night with the girlfriend?" Nina teased with a friendly grin and suggestive wink.

"Yes, but it's not what you think," Eddie said, sounding almost regretful. Hearing the longing in his tone, Nina shoved his shoulder and shook her head with a small giggle. Eddie returned her smile with a grin of his own before continuing. "No seriously. Patricia's parents called and they want to meet me so me and Patricia talked all night about it."

"About whether or not to go?" Nina was all business now, her tone serious and concerned. "You have to go! It's the right thing to do."

"No, of course I'll go," Eddie assured his friend, grabbing a red pen from his desk and reaching for a stack of papers waiting for his editing and comments. "We just had a lot to talk about. What her parents are like, what the trip will be like, when we'll go, travel expenses, girly emotional stuff, the list goes on."

"That _girly emotional stuff _is probably very important."

"And that's why we talked about it," Eddie shot back diplomatically. "Damn, the formatting on this is all wrong. Hand me that blue folder, please? I don't remember how to fix this mess of the top of my head."

Nina complied and the two of them continued working in silence for a little while. Eddie was distractedly marking errors in red, his mind more on the prospect of meeting Patricia's parents than the work in front of him.

"So you haven't visited in a while," Nina said casually, grabbing a new stack of papers to work with. "Fabian misses you."

"I didn't want to disturb his wonderful married life," Eddie joked. "I figured I'd give you two time to settle down."

"That's sweet of you but we've had all summer to do that," Nina eyed the photograph of her husband sitting on her desk with adoration. "Come over for dinner tonight? Bring Patricia, of course."

Eddie shook his head wistfully. "She's working late tonight but I'll still come."

"Great. Want to just travel home together? You can hang around and catch up with Fabian while I cook."

"Sure, but I'll have to call my dad from there and talk to him for a little while."

"About visiting?"

"About visiting," Eddie confirmed, leaning back into his chair and sighing at the paper work in front of him. All he could think about was meeting Patricia's parents and it was keeping him from getting any work done. If he continued like this, it was going to be a _long _day.

* * *

Patricia smiled wistfully at her phone. Eddie had texting her asking if she was sure she couldn't make it to Fabian and Nina's. Glancing at at an inbox full of unanswered e-mails, she frowned before typing out a simple: _can't, have to work late. see you at home._

In reality, the e-mails weren't urgent. She was going to get out of work on time, but she had a surprise for Eddie and she didn't want him to see her until she was all done.

Eddie grinned dopily when her response came through.

"I thought she said she couldn't make it?" Nina questioned, taking in his enthusiastic expression.

"She can't but she said see you at home."

"So?"

"_Home," _Eddie said expressively, glaring at Nina as though it should be obvious. "She thinks of our apartment as home!"

"You are such a sap," Nina laughed, letting Eddie into her apartment.

"Eddie!" Fabian greeted cheerfully, patting his friend on the back. "Haven't seen you in a little bit."

"Dude, you've been the busy one," Eddie shrugged out of his jacket and curiously glanced around the apartment. He had of course seen their place when they bought it, but it had since been decorated and changed. "Are you going to give me a tour or what?"

Fabian jumped to his feet and smiled brightly, motioning for Eddie to follow him. Eddie voiced his appreciation on the place, comparing the finished home to Patricia and his unfurnished place.

"Better than our place," Eddie joked. "Patricia is taking forever to get the show on road."

"Don't tease her, she's not here to defend herself!" Nina poked her head from the kitchen, grinning mischievously. Her eyes glinted with knowledge; she knew something Eddie didn't, but she was brilliant at secret keeping. She was mostly just happy that Patricia had trusted her with her secret plan.

"Good. She's a lawyer, she'd win," Eddie retorted.

"Which is something you should be proud of. She's good at her job," Nina quipped. "Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes you guys, be ready."

"I should call my dad in that time," Eddie mused, excusing himself and stepping out onto the balcony.

He leaned against the railing, looking down at the street below. Fabian and Nina lived on the twenty-sixth floor so it was a long way down. The cars and people looked small; everything was a blur of flashing lights and colors and honking horns. This was definitely home, but he couldn't wait to visit his dad. It had been a long time.

"Hi Dad," Eddie said into the receiver, glancing thoughtfully down at the city scheme in front of him. There was a poem or short story waiting to be written; he made a mental note to free write when he got home. "I have some good news!"

_"Better than last time? Hardly anything beats my only son getting engaged to the love of his life."_

"We're coming to visit during the holidays," Eddie waited in anticipation for his father's response. He heard the intake of Mr. Sweet's breath and grinned. "You didn't have a heart attack did you?"

_"Not quite. But it seems as if I misspoke! Apparently, something really does being my son getting engaged. You're coming to visit, I can hardly believe it! Edison, it's been far too long. Now let's talk logistically. How would this work?"_

Eddie grinned at the brisk tone of his father's voice. Mr. Sweet had switched from delighted and surprised to business like and formal like the true leader and principal he was. Eddie willingly launched into an explanation about spending half of the holidays with Patricia's family and half with him.

"Christmas might be at their place though," Eddie finished off apologetically. "But we're all yours from then on till New Years' I'm thinking! I can't come any earlier because I can't take so much time off work what with missing time for the book tour and everything. I'm going to save all my days off for December and I'm thinking we'll go from there."

_"Sounds perfect. I have to go for now, I have Victor on the other line. Give Patricia my warm regards. Goodbye, Edison!"_

Eddie rolled his eyes and pocketed his phone, casting one last glance at the view from the balcony before rejoining Nina and Fabian in the kitchen.

"Everything sorted out?" Fabian looked up from setting the table.

"Fabian, you don't need to fold the napkins all fancy," Nina set glasses of water on the table with a raised eyebrow.

"I wanted to," he insisted with a huff.

Nina swatted the back of her husband's head playfully before taking a seat at the table. She served herself before passing the food around the table with care. "So tell us about the wedding planning," she requested.

"Yeah, catch us up!"

Eddie groaned. "We've barely started to be honest. All we know is we plan to be wed next fall. We're still working on picking a date."

"So about a year from now," Fabian noted.

"A fall wedding!" Nina squealed. "Are you thinking September or October? Actually, I suppose most of November is technically fall too but that has a more winter feel to it so it hardly counts..."

"Slow down," Eddie laughed, raising his hands helplessly. "I really don't know. I wish Patricia was here."

"You should have brought her," Fabian scolded.

"She's busy," Nina said with a knowing smile.

"Working late," Eddie agreed slowly, looking at Nina suspiciously. "Do you know something I don't?"

Nina blinked innocently before shaking her hand, internally cursing herself for slipping up. "No of course not," she said smoothly, calmly talking a sip of water and offering her a friend an assuring smile.

Eddie nodded in approval, but he still looked puzzled. The rest of the evening passed in animated chatter and the usual reminiscing of their college days. Eddie considered sticking around to watch a movie, but a quick look at his watch and he realized by the time he got home, Patricia would have just arrived.

"No I should go but I'll keep you posted on the details," he promised, declining their offer. He shook Fabian's hand and kissed Nina's cheek before grabbing his jacket and briefcase. "Good night, thanks for dinner!"

Eddie shook his head fondly and hummed on his way home. A few years ago, he would have never been shaking his best friend's hand or kissing his girlfriend (now wife's cheek) but that was just the adult way to greet people and bid them goodbye. He wasn't sure when or even _how _it happened but somewhere down the line, he had grown up. It was a weird thought.

With nostalgic thoughts swarming in his mind, Eddie entered the apartment. He flicked the light on and frowned. (That was strange. He had expected Patricia to be home.) And then he looked around.

His bag slid to the floor as his grip loosened around it from shock. "What...!" he exclaimed. "Patricia!"

The apartment was complete! The remaining rooms had been painted and everything was furnished. It was like a miracle; the styling was impeccable. He didn't know how Patricia had managed it, but she was definitely responsible. He waited for her to come out of hiding. He knew she was around here somewhere.

"Hi," Patricia said cheerfully, stepping out from behind their couch. (God, they now owned a couch. Eddie was _ecstatic._) "Notice anything different?" She half smirked, half grinned, her smile full of innocence and mirth.

Eddie launched himself at Patricia, kissing her square on the mouth. "I'm so proud," he breathed against her lips. He released her then, eyes wide and accusing. "You weren't at work!"

"Nope, I was doing all this," Patricia confirmed. "I never had to work late. I wanted to surprise you but I wanted to keep you out of the house so Nina volunteered to help out. I don't think Fabian was informed."

_Now, _Nina's suggestive smiles made sense. Remembering Fabian's annoyance at Eddie not bringing Patricia, Eddie chuckled. "Ah no. I think Fabian was left out of the loop."

"Just like you," Patricia said cheekily.

"Just like me," Eddie agreed, looking around in wonder. "I can't believe you did all this. Give me a tour?"

"Of course," Patricia grabbed his hand and led him around the apartment.

Eddie reacted as the perfect boyfriend should. (Because let's face it, that's what he was.) He complimented all the color schemes without truly having a clue about whether it was a wise choice or not. He approved of all the furniture and commented on the few decorations up. Truthfully, he had no clue about design but he didn't feel like he was lying to Patricia. Maybe from an interior designer's point of perspective, things weren't perfect, but _he _genuinely thought it was.

Their apartment was colorful and bright without being too obnoxious. It was warm and welcoming, and not too cluttered. Patricia had even unpacked so the majority of their belongings now had a home. He was so excited.

"You could have been an interior designer, you know," Eddie placed his hands on Patricia's waist and drew her in closer, swooping down to kiss her again. He was just _really _happy.

"I could have been anything I wanted to be and surprise, surprise - I am. I'm a lawyer," Patricia scoffed with joking pride. She turned around in a full circle to admire her handiwork. "It looks good and everything but it's lacking some decorations. Cute little things you know?"

"I didn't know you were into cute little things," Eddie teased.

"Don't tease me," Patricia huffed. "Let's go shopping tomorrow?"

"Mm sure," Eddie agreed advancing again, pulling Patricia in closer. Really, all he wanted to do was kiss Patricia all night long.

Naturally, she obliged.

* * *

**A/N:**

Oh look - fluff!

I suppose this was a filler of sorts. But it all needed to happen for the story to progress so I hope you enjoyed the fluff :) Regarding my writing style, I've noticed a lot of what I write is incredibly dialogue based. I'm trying to change that and grow as a writer but I really haven't had the time to so...as the slow updates have probably told you. Anyway, see you next time!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

Hello hello! Remember when I said this fic would probably be finished around April? LOL - it's pretty amusing how wrong I was! Biweekly updates didn't end up happening so we'll get to the end when we get there, who knows how long it will take. The good news is my spring break is next week so I'll have some time to write! I'm kind of getting over some major writer's block so let's hope it's behind me.

This chapter takes place about two weeks after the last. We're nearing the end of September!

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

"Remember our first date?" Eddie called from the kitchen. In an effort to help him improve his cooking skills, (since no - waffles and hoagies didn't count) Patricia made him take care of dinner at least twice a week.

"Concentrate on the chicken," Patricia advised, not looking up from her book. She wasn't a fan of reading unless it was related to work (she found law stuff fascinating) but she was trying to read more in order to understand Eddie's numerous literature references. Books were something Eddie loved and while Patricia would never treasure them like he did, it probably wouldn't do for her to make fun of books and academia anymore, now that she was engaged to a successful writer.

"Oh my god," Eddie dropped the spoon he was using in surprise. "You forgot our first date!" he accused. "That's why you're changing the subject. Unbelievable."

"I'm not overly sentimental, I can't remember," Patricia defended. Nevertheless, she hung her head in shame. First dates were probably the kind of thing a girl should remember. But maybe she could wiggle out of the situation. "And I suppose _you _remember our first date?" she challenged.

"Yes! It was when...I...we..." Eddie faltered, viciously tossing the salad, reluctant to admit that he too had forgotten. "I bet it's in my notes somewhere!" he finally exclaimed. "I'm not good at remembering things so I write them down. It's how I roll."

"Dork," Patricia commented. "Look it up sometime though. I'm kind of curious now. We actually don't have an excuse for not remembering considering we haven't really been on a lot of official dates."

"What do you mean?" Eddie said. "We go on dates all the time."

"We go nowhere," Patricia countered. "Think about it. Most of our time is spent at home. We spend plenty of time together but even when we go out, we rarely use the word date. We didn't really use it before the engagement either. Weird, right?"

Eddie considered this with a slow nod of the head. "You're right. I never thought about it like that."

He returned to preparing dinner, thoughtfully humming under his breath. After placing the chicken in the oven, Eddie washed his hands and snuck up behind Patricia, dropping his head onto her shoulder. She reached up and patted at his hair without batting an eyelash in his direction.

"I'm not a dog, you know," he pouted.

"You might as well be," she teased in response.

Eddie didn't protest this. Instead, he leaned over the back of the couch a little more, trying to glance at the title of the book. "You're reading Harry Potter?" he said excitedly. "Isn't it so great?"

"The books are too long," Patricia grumbled. "This one weighs a ton," she waved _The Goblet of Fire _in the air with a scowl.

"Wait till you see the rest of the series," Eddie hopped over the end of the couch and landed next to Patricia, crossing his legs underneath him and scooting closer so he could see too. "And by the way, if you didn't think they weren't great, you wouldn't have made it so far. Not to mention, it's your duty to read the series since you're British and everything."

"Shut up," Patricia said primly, harshly turning a page. "I'm concentrating. Also, _what _do you think you're doing?" She was referring to his close proximity.

"I'm trying to read too," Eddie said cheerfully. "And be gentle with my books, god, woman."

"This is probably the 5th time you've read this book," Patricia said. "Back off and let me focus."

"25th," Eddie corrected casually.

_"What?"_

Eddie jumped up not wanting to be a target of Patricia's merciless teasing. "I think that's the oven," he said hurriedly, rushing towards the kitchen as an excuse to get away from what was sure to be a lot of flake for reading a book 25 times.

"You _just _put it in," Patricia said loudly, rolling her eyes. "It'll take another 20 minutes, doofus. I guess it'll better than you burning it though."

"What happened to the sweet, shy darling I used to know?" Eddie muttered with a cheeky grin, reaching for plates and silverware from the cabinet.

"I heard that!"

Eddie's smile widened.

* * *

"Go get ready, we're going on a date," Eddie announced the next morning, excitedly making coffee.

"Excuse me?" Patricia padded into the kitchen grouchily, plunking onto one of the chairs in front of the kitchen island and shooting Eddie a glinting glare that said: _make that coffee faster_. "Why are you such a morning person?"

"Because mornings means breakfast foods. Like waffles," Eddie said dreamily, pulling ingredients out from the fridge. "Speaking of which..."

Patricia watched her fiancé putter around the kitchen eagerly, multitasking between making coffee and making waffles. Eddie's abysmal cooking skills aside, Patricia had to admit that he had breakfast food down. His waffles were _really _good and she supposed it was kind of cute to see him all hyperactive and excited...wait. Why was he excited again?

"You said something about a date?" Patricia asked, demanding clarification.

"Yup," Eddie's tongue was out and his brow was furrowed in concentration, flour dusting his cheeks. God, he was so cute. Patricia supposed she could handle going on a date with someone that adorable. It was doable..._  
_

"Where are we going?"

"Glad you asked. Times Square! We're going to have a tacky NYC date like we should have done ages ago when you first moved here."

"I first moved to your apartment complex a year ago, but not New York. I was in the NYU law school for years," Patricia pointed out, sounding amused.

"Do I look like I care?" Eddie looked offended. "I want to do a corny NYC date so we're going to go on a corny NYC date, deal with it," he huffed.

"Diva," Patricia muttered. "And you better make those waffles fast. Looks like someone's getting cranky."

"Seems as though you're contagious," Eddie shot back easily, smirking at his own wit.

Patricia cursed under her breath. Not for the first time she twitched at the fact that she was marrying someone with an incredibly sharp mind. Eddie was no lawyer, but he was certainly a master of verbal banter, words being his strongest weapon. But that was also part of the fun, Patricia admitted to herself. Eddie was the first person to intellectually challenge her in this way. Piper and her other friends had never come close to holding their own in argument, whether it be real or fake. Eddie, on the other hand, did brilliantly in both.

"So when are we going on this date?" Now that she had coffee, Patricia was feeling much more agreeable than she had ten seconds ago.

"As soon as you get ready," Eddie said.

Patricia groaned and Eddie snatched her cup of coffee away and grabbed her hands, pulling her off the seat. He shooed her into the bathroom, ignoring her angry protests the entire way.

"My coffee!" Patricia wailed.

"It'll still be here when you're dressed. Plus, the waffles will get ready. Stop whining," Eddie said, shutting the bathroom door for her. "And hurry!"

"Any normal guy would want to join a girl in the shower, but naturally, this one opts to make waffles instead," Patricia commented to herself. She tried to feel annoyed, but utterly failed. Today was going to be a good day. Eddie was planning something sweet and it was her duty to play along and play nice. She could do that.

Patricia emerged from the shower, her hair still damp. She had even paid attention to her clothing today, in order to make an effort towards Eddie's big date thing.

"You're wearing a dress?" Eddie took in Patricia's simple lace dress and cardigan with delight.

"Dwell on it too much and I'll change," she threatened.

Eddie shook his head frantically. "No, don't change," he insisted. "You look nice is all."

Patricia softened, smiling. She was kind of warming up to the idea of this date thing. "Thanks," she said, leaning forward and kissing him.

"Wasn't expecting that," Eddie said breathlessly. "Score."

_"Score?" _Patricia repeated, smacking his shoulder. "Juvenile."

Eddie shrugged silently and handed her the earlier cup of coffee. "Drink up, we should get going," he responded.

* * *

Eddie and Patricia walked hand in hand, dodging tourists and avoiding photo bombing pictures. They had been wandering around the Times Square area all morning, and despite the early time of day, there were people everywhere.

"This place is so ridiculous," Patricia commented as yet another flyer was forced into her hands. She stuffed into the bag with the rest with a small sigh. "I'm having fun though," she added quickly. The last thing she wanted was to ruin Eddie's mood.

He appeared in perfectly good spirits though. (As usual.) "The atmosphere is kind of cool though," he said.

"All the people don't get on your nerves?"

"We live in New York. Use your brain, sweetheart. People _can't _get on my nerves if this is where I intend to live."

Patricia stuck her tongue out at Eddie, knowing he hadn't meant the endearment in a sweet way. Oddly enough, they weren't at the pet name stage yet. It wasn't their thing. Whenever they said "darling" or love" or "sweetheart" it was usually in a teasing, mocking context.

"What now?" Patricia asked.

They had walked around all morning, taking silly pictures and enjoying the hectic, crazy atmosphere. Eddie even insisted on buying a souvenir or two, much to Patricia's dismay and scorn. He even coaxed her into riding the ferris wheel in the Toys R Us. All in all, it had been an eventful, sweet kind of morning. (Eddie had bought Patricia another cup of coffee to ensure her good mood.)

Checking his watch, Eddie hummed a little. "Lunch time," he cheered.

"Always ready to eat," Patricia joked. "Where to?"

"Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., it's fairly touristy, and the food is good too," he said.

Their lunch was casual and fun and much to Patricia's amusement, Eddie insisted on ordering a drink where he could take take the souvenir glass home.

"I don't think I've ever seen you drunk," Patricia said suddenly, grinning wickedly.

"Today won't be that day, but we're spending the rest of our _lives _together, I'm sure you'll see it sometime," Eddie chucked, happily sipping his fruity drink.

Patricia smirked and nodded, resuming her meal.

* * *

"So now what?" Patricia said, immediately reaching for Eddie's hand once they had exited the restaurant. "It's too early to go fun and I have to admit, I'm actually having a good time."

Eddie took a moment to respond, looking at their surroundings out of the corner of his eye. Peoples' eyes were lingering, staring at them for a couple seconds too long. He had always known they were an attractive couple but he couldn't help but find it funny when people noticed. Patricia though, seemed oblivious, and chattered away, hand clasped firmly in Eddie's.

"We're hot," Eddie said suddenly.

"That does not even remotely answer my question," Patricia replied, but a smile a crept onto her face and she seemed pleased. "But yeah, we are. Why?"

"No reason," Eddie said, letting out a small laugh. "And how about you give me a tour of NYU? I've never been."

"You grew up in New York and you've never been to campus?"

"Not for a while and definitely not on official tour," Eddie said, shrugging. "I went to NYU's rival school. And the better one, might I add."

"Columbia is for stuffy losers," Patricia teased.

"Hey, I went there!"

"I know," she giggled. "But come on, yeah. We can take a walk around Washington Square Park. It's a nice day. To the C train!"

"Look at you and that subway knowledge. But for future reference, the A and E are also acceptable," Eddie said.

Patricia ignored him and tugged him towards the subway entrance. Eddie's good was infectious; she found herself having a good time, especially since the weather is so nice.

Since the undergraduate freshman dorms were mostly located around the square, Patricia pointed them out along with major buildings. "And that's the student center," Patricia finished. "Full circle. Or square, rather," she said.

"It's nice," Eddie said, impressed. "Hardly a campus though. It's just another part of the village."

"That's what makes it so great though," Patricia responded. "To the park!"

They bought gelato from a nearby stand and walked the length of the park before settling near the fountain, watching children splash around.

"That's probably really gross," Patricia whispered, sticking her tongue out. "Color?"

"Green. And me?"

"Blue," Patricia smirked.

The pair lapsed into silence and sat, watching people pass them. Eddie had to admit, the downtown area had a far different feel from uptown. Columbia's campus was gorgeous, but it was traditional in that it was gated. Not to mention, he had always felt as though stress traveled through the air. He didn't feel as relaxed there, as he did here. More free spirits in the village, he supposed.

He raised a nonjudgemental eyebrow thoughtfully as someone dressed in neon colors and covered in tattoos passed them by, looking confident and relaxed. It was an interesting place to be. Gradually, the number of people began to dwindle and the sun began to sink lower.

"We should get going," Eddie said, finally breaking the silence.

"No way, not yet. I wanna see the sky turn pink."

"What?"

"I want to see the sunset, idiot," Patricia said fondly.

"How sentimental of you," Eddie said jokingly. But he wrapped an arm around Patricia's shoulder, and together they watched the sun sink beneath the Washington Arch, leaving behind a trail of dusty orange and red clouds.

* * *

"So that was a really good day, nice planning," Patricia praised. Eddie leaned forward, presenting his right cheek. "You want me to slap it?" she said innocently.

"Patricia!"

"Kidding," she drawled, taking his face in her hands and kissing the side of his face. "But we wasted the whole weekend so now I'm going to do a little work, all right?"

"Fine by me. I think I'll put up some of the decoration stuff we bought on the way home so that we can officially call our apartment complete and everything."

Patricia nodded absentmindedly, already observed in her work.

"Hey, how do this painting look here?" Eddie asked. Deep in thought, Patricia didn't answer right away. "Patricia, come on! It's heavy!"

"One sec, I'm working."

"Just turn around," Eddie said, exasperated, grunting underneath the weight of the large painting. "Patricia!"

"What?" she snapped, turning around. "It's fine, gosh."

Eddie stepped back, a little wounded. Suddenly though, he scowled. Apparently, he decided he was more angry than hurt. "Why are you so short tempered? I'm doing this for us!"

"And I _just _told you, I was going to work. You never listen."

"I'm listening now, and I don't really like what you're saying," Eddie said seriously, frowning at her, a hint of anger in his expression.

"Well I can't help it," Patricia shot back. "Sometimes I miss having separate apartments. I'm trying to work and you keep asking for advice while I'm in the middle of something, and it's bothering me. I need my space."

Eddie stepped back again, stiffly, looking displeased. "I see."

"Don't look at me like that! You need space when you're writing too. And I respect that."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Eddie said coldly, turning around and returning to his task.

Patricia glared back, watching Eddie work in silence, his back facing her. She shook her head adamantly. "No."

"What?" Eddie turned around, his eyes devoid of their usual warmth.

"I said, _no," _she said. "We're not doing this. We just had an amazing day. We're not going to fight."

"You started it!" His eyes immediately flashed with emotion, and even though it was rage, Patricia couldn't help but feel relieved. She hated when there was no emotion on Eddie's face - it was all wrong.

Patricia shot him a pointed look, a hint of a smile inching onto her face. Eddie looked at her curiously, a little bit of the anger leaving his face. He was obviously wondering what was so amusing. Then reconsidering the childishness of his words, he too chuckled a little.

"We're not going to fight," Patricia said gently. "Sorry I snapped, okay?"

Pleased at her apology, Eddie offered her a sheepish one of his own. "Sorry I didn't listen."

"So we've discovered I'm short tempered," Patricia mused.

"I always knew that," Eddie said after a beat of silence, a little reluctant to joke.

Patricia sighed and got up, shutting her laptop. Eddie looked slightly guilty for interrupting her, but he didn't tell her to keep working. He didn't say anything actually; he stood and silently watched her approach him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him downwards, softly kissing him. "Sorry," she whispered. "My fault."

He hid a grin in her neck. "You're admitting it's your fault? Second time in a month."

"Yeah, well," Patricia let herself trail off, not really having a concrete rebuttal. "So we have certain quirks that we don't like about each other, it's fine. We're just going to joke and laugh it off."

"Yeah?" Eddie grinned, all anger gone. "Sounds good to me, I don't like drama."

"Neither do I."

"Could have fooled me," Eddie snickered.

Patricia, as usual, smacked the back of his head. Eddie instantly shut up and returned to hanging up decorations, while Patricia returned to her work. This time, he asked less questions, but when he did, she was sure to answer with patience.

They were constantly growing, their love becoming a little more tangible with each passing day.

* * *

**A/N: **

So this probably seems like another filler chapter, but considering how the entire story is following their every day lives leading up the wedding (solidification of their happiness), it's technically not! In any case, plenty of fluff.

I also acknowledge that there are lots of "fights" in this story, but so far they've been baby arguments that occur between most couples on an almost daily basis. I promise, if there's ever a serious fight in TH, you'll be well aware! It'll get a tad angsty.

Also doesn't drunk Eddie sound hilarious? Seeing as it's a Nick show, we'll never ever see it, but that could be fun as long as it's not trashy hahaha maybe I'll write about it at some point...


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

Hi. Updated just under two weeks - haha progress! A lot of people have been anticipating this chapter and so I thought I'd be a good writer and get it out in a semi timely fashion. I've never written a drunk character before so hopefully it's realistic and okay enough. (Because I'm that one weird teenager that abides by the rules and doesn't drink despite being in college. So whoops - no personal experience although I have been out with my friends and seen them act all kinds of ridiculous!) And yes, I used the same costume ideas I used previously in a NADM drabble! I don't remember what chapter.

Also I added another a huuuge tentative event to the TH outline. It's kind of floating on the side because I'm not sure what chapter to put it in but I think it's rather big. I might not use it because it'd make a chapter or two fairly angsty, or at the very least nerve-wracking. So...I'm still debating.

This chapter takes place on Halloween.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Patricia was taking advantage of the fact that she was home from work before Eddie. Because interestingly enough, he tended to spend more time in the bathroom getting ready than she did. While their apartment did have two bathrooms, most of their products were in the main one, so she was thrilled that for once she had the space to herself.

Emerging from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, she dug through the closet looking for her costume. She and Eddie had both decided it would hilarious if they directly coordinated their outfits as opposed to doing a classic couple counterpart costume. So instead of dressing as an angel and a devil, they had decided they would _both _be devils. The people at the club probably wouldn't understand why that was kind of funny, but Patricia knew Fabian and Nina would appreciate the humor behind the costumes._  
_

Patricia slipped into her short red bedazzled dress and made a face in the mirror. There was no denying that borderline provocative dress suited her figure, but for God's sake, she sparkled. She placed her hand at the end of the dress and squirmed a little when she realized it only came to her mid thigh. She had seen way shorter halloween costumes, but somehow she felt awkward. She dove for the bag of accessories, hoping that they would complete the look and make her feel better.

Now holding a pitchfork, wearing devil horns and tall red heels, she felt no better. "Maybe wearing tights would make me feel less weird," she muttered.

"Don't you dare," Eddie said from the doorway. Patricia spun around so fast she nearly twisted her ankle because of the heels. "Don't do that on the dance floor tonight," Eddie teased with a wink.

"I thought you weren't even keen on going," Patricia hastily slipped out of the heels and reached up to tear the horns from her head. They made her feel kind of stupid. Why had she agreed to do this again?

"I wasn't. And I'm still not." Eddie eyed her almost hungrily, his lips turning into a lopsided, amused grin. "We don't have to go if you don't want to. I can think of other things we can do."

"Oh no you don't," Patricia defiantly slipped back into her heals and grabbed her pocketbook and a light jacket. "I'm ready to go right this second."

"Except it's seven in the evening," Eddie shot her down with a wide grin. "Fabian told us to meet them there around eleven. I've got four hours to get changed."

"You're going to need four hours?!"

"Not at all," Eddie said easily. "But I'll find a way to use all the time because I know how mad it makes you."

"I can't stand you," Patricia declared. Eddie's only response was to pick her up and dump her onto the bed so he could get through to the bathroom since she had been standing in his way. Patricia squealed and let out a small grunt of protest as she landed on the bed. "You could have just said excuse me!"

"What fun would that be?" Eddie called from the bathroom. "Go do your hair and makeup girly nonsense while I get my costume sorted."

"You love me for my looks?" Patricia pretended to be offended.

"Um...the right answer to the question is no, right?"

"EDDIE."

"Oops. That's a no. So no! Of course not! I love you for you! Obviously."

"Shut up and get dressed," Patricia grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest and scowling, even though she knew Eddie couldn't see her from behind the bathroom door.

When he emerged, Patricia had indeed done her hair and makeup. Meanwhile, Eddie had changed into his devil warlock costume. Patricia snorted when she saw how he looked.

"What?" Eddie asked worriedly.

"Nothing," she assured him, holding back the giggles. Truth be told, Eddie looked _handsome. _His costume was merely a fancy black tux with a red shirt, vest, and bow tie. There was a billowing red cape and devil horns as well, but _basically, _he looked incredibly well dressed. Just slightly bedazzled like Patricia.

"Do I not look like a devil?" he demanded.

"Chill, of course you do," Patricia soothed, linking arms with Eddie and dragging him out the door. There was still plenty of time but people were already out and about and you could get away with wearing pretty much anything in New York City, Halloween or not. They had time to take a walk.

* * *

It was just past eleven when they entered the club. The music was blasting and it felt as though the room was shaking, the beat was pounding so loud. Naturally, it's the first thing Eddie complained about.

"It's too loud. I can't hear a thing," he whined, darting around people and going deeper into the room in search for Fabian and Nina. "And dear god, that chick is definitely not 21. Teenagers!"

"You sound like you're fifty years old," Patricia remarked, grabbing his hand and pulling him in the right direction. "The music is supposed to be this loud and don't tell me you didn't go clubbing when you were underage."

"Did you?" Eddie loudly asked over the noise.

"No, but I'm sure you did."

"He did," Nina confirmed, suddenly appearing to their right. She was dressed as Cleopatra and Fabian was dressed as pharaoh, grinning from ear to ear.

Patricia appraised the two of them and winked. "You guys look good! Did you randomly pick the Egyptian theme or...?"

"God, no. Fabian could never be random, everything he does is deliberate," Eddie cut in before Nina could answer. "They both love Egyptian stuff."

"Guilty," Nina admitted. "You guys wanna grab a drink?"

"No thanks," Eddie said casually.

Fabian snickered and Patricia raised an eyebrow. "You don't trust yourself to have just one drink? Come on, Sweet. You're over 21, you have drinks all the time."

"Yeah, one is fine but you're going to try and get me drunk!"

"So what if I do?" Patricia challenged. "I deserve to see this side of you if I want to."

"But drinking and driving isn't safe. Duh. Logic." Eddie seemed proud of himself for coming up with this argument, but Patricia spotted the whole in it right away.

"Then it's a good thing we live in New York City and we walked. Come on, you loser, you're over thinking it. Let's just get something to drink, I'm thirsty. You can start off with something fruity or something."

"Start off," Eddie echoed. "Fantastic."

The thing about clubs was that they had a contagious environment. Everyone's alcohol induced good mood was infectious and it was impossible to have a medium good time in a club. You either hid on the sidelines and waited till it was time to cart your drunk friends home, or you joined in the fun, whether it be just dancing o r drinking, or both.

So Eddie had planned to just dance and make fun of people in badly put together costumes, but he hadn't been out in a long time and it also didn't hurt that Patricia was encouraging him to let go. So one thing lead to another.

When Fabian offered him another drink, he didn't say no. He didn't refuse the third one either, and before he knew it, he had lost track.

* * *

Patricia was surprised that she was actually having fun in a club. After the initial half hour of chatter between the four of them, Fabian and Eddie had taken off, leaving Nina and Patricia to hang out. Before departing, they had warned the two of them to call them if they need anything and that they wouldn't be far.

This was actually ideal. Fabian and Eddie got to hang out like they used to for one night, and Patricia got to spend some time with Nina, first talking, and then on the dance floor. Patricia hadn't seen Eddie for a good half hour, but she wasn't worried about him being off with another girl or anything like that. She actually felt extremely lucky that she had found a man she trusted enough to go off on his own in a night club, whether sober or drunk. Speaking of which, she wondered how much Eddie ended up having...

"I've been looking for you eveeeryyywhere," Eddie huffed, suddenly standing at her side. His hair was ruffled and his bow tie was nowhere to be seen. His cape also looked a little loose, probably from being stepped on a million times. All in all, he was a tad disheveled. "It took me sooo long to find you, Patricia. It took as long as crossing an ocean would take. Speaking of oceans, have you ever noticed how big they are? They're endless and blue and sooo deep. Kind of like life, y'know?" He finished his ramblings with big, curious, searching eyes.

Patricia burst out laughing and Eddie frowned.

"I'm serious," he pouted. "But it's okay, 'coz you're beautiful. Prettier than that Mona Lisa chick even. Can I tell you a secret? I don't get why she's such a big deal. People say her smile is all mysterious and gorgeous but I don't think she's even smiling. Your smile is cuter."

"Thanks Eddie," she said, still laughing. Eddie was more than a little tipsy but he wasn't so far gone either because he wasn't slurring and he was still walking just fine. His thoughts were just more jumbled than usual and definitely uncensored. Patricia's favorite part about slightly intoxicated Eddie was the fact that he could still use literary devices. He wasn't as eloquent as always, but he had still managed to compare searching for to crossing an ocean or something lame like that. She found it hilarious.

"It's past two, Eddie. Wanna go home?"

"No," he said, aghast. "We haven't even danced together yet. Hold on though. I'm thirsty."

"Drink water," Patricia suggested.

"That's no fun," he complained. "I'm gonna drink something fun. Don't go home without me, okay?"

Patricia rolled her eyes and let her fiancé go, turning to face Nina and laughing again. "So basically, when Eddie drinks he's just whinier and more random."

"Basically," Nina said. "It's kind of endearing though. And anyway, he's pretty adamant on leaving getting trashed in the past. He's definitely holding back."

"He's a classy drunk," Patricia agreed.

A half hour later, Eddie appeared again, with Fabian in tow. They were wearing identical goofy grins, stumbling a little.

"Maybe I take that last part back," Patricia pondered thoughtfully. "How are you feeling, Eddie?"

"Jus' fine..mm...thanks," he slurred. "I think..." he paused a though trying to gather his thoughts. "Imma be honest with you... I think it's so nice when people stop n and ask how I'm doing...it's so nice. _You're _so nice..._so_ nice...kinda like when oceans..."

"Oh god," Patricia said. "Not another ocean thing. Hey Eddie, since I'm so nice you wanna do me a favor and dance with me before we leave? Can you dance right now?"

"Yeah 'course I can dance," Eddie said, his speech getting more jumbled by the second. And to Patricia's surprise, he actually could. Definitely more sloppy than usual and he was kind of tripping every other minute, but he wasn't terrible, given his state.

"How much did you have to drink again?" Patricia asked as they swayed in rhythm to the music.

"Dun 'member...are you mad?" Eddie suddenly looked concerned, his dopey smile gone. He stopped jumping and waving his arms around (since that's all his drunken dancing could really be called) and frowned.

"No," she promised. "I was just curious. You had fun tonight, right?"

"Yeah," he shuffled closer and rested his head against her neck and drew his arms around her waist even though the song wasn't even remotely slow. "Did you have fun too? I know I disappeared most of the time..mm...kinda like when snow melts or like...when rain fills rivers..."

"Loving the water similes, but they really don't make sense. Like not even a little bit. What does rain have to do with disappearing?"

"You're right...you're alwaaaays right," Eddie said, trying to kiss Patricia's lips and landing the corner of her mouth instead. "I'll try again. Take lakes for example...it's like when lakes have docks...or monsters...ooooh like Nessie...from Switzerland, Africa."

Patricia had no clue what the now very intoxicated Eddie was talking about but she felt the need to correct him. "You mean Scotland, Europe."

"That's wha I said. Same thing practically," Eddie protested, his eyes kind of unfocused. He stretched out his hand and blindly batted at the devil horns from her costume. "Red...pointy...cow eaaars," he slurred.

"Oh god. Devil horns," Patricia snorted. "Okay, I think it's time to go home. Enough dancing"

She didn't bother looking for Nina or Fabian. It was past three, and they would understand. In fact, they probably weren't even around anymore. She bet Nina had herded Fabian home, who had also joined Eddie at the bar.

Wrapping an arm around Eddie's shoulder, she guided him off the dance floor, grateful (and impressed) when he was able to mostly support himself.

"Your coordination isn't too bad," she praised. "Which is kind of miraculous considering your speech."

"Not wasted," Eddie frowned. "I'll remember errything tomorrow, I promise...speaking of which...vows are important. I think...imma write my vows tonight...so...'m ready for the wedding."

Patricia hailed a cab and shoved Eddie in first before climbing in after. "While that would be highly entertaining, please don't," she said affectionately, patting his cheek. Eddie nodded, suddenly yawning and blinking heavily. "Don't go to sleep, we'll be home soon! It's going to be so hard to wake you up when we get there. You're _so _drunk."

"Soo drunk," Eddie agreed. "But it'll be okay. I believe in you." And with that last inspirational, random statement, his eyes shut closed and his head lolled against Patricia's shoulder.

Groaning, she adjusted her sleeping fiancé and he snuggled into her neck in his sleep, his hair tickling her face. He was warm and cuddly and smelled like half a dozen types of alcohol but Patricia found that she didn't care.

"Of course he's still into snuggling when he's drunk. Of course," she muttered, sounding a little bit resigned. Still, she held him the entire taxi ride home and woke him up when they reached the apartment. "At least you're not a loud drunk."

"I can be," Eddie mumbled, still half asleep. "Want me to be?"

"No thanks."

"Kay, I will," Eddie said, ignoring Patricia. He started singing rather loudly at which the concierge looked up, seeming alarmed. Patricia hastily mouthed a quick "sorry" and pushed Eddie into the elevator, sending him tumbling into the wall. "Damn. Are you okay? You didn't hit your head, right?"

"Nope," Eddie replied. "No need to push though...room...spinning."

"You're not going to pass out on me right? Or throw up? I'm not good when drunk people get sloppy!" Patricia looked at him cautiously, her obvious worry showing on her face.

"Dun be silly. 'm never sloppy. _Never_," he emphasized, stepping out of the elevator first and refusing Patricia's help. He even managed to walk to a door without stumbling. "See?"

"Very good," Patricia said, giggling. "Except that's not our apartment. Nice try though. Come on, you loser." She placed two firm hands on both of his shoulders and propelled him forward into their apartment.

It was a process convincing Eddie to change (he very much enjoyed being a devil and proceeded to argue with her using drunken metaphors) and brush his teeth, but she finally had them both in bed by four.

"I can't even imagine your college days. Good night, Eddie."

"Night Patricia. Best Halloween ever," Eddie mumbled, rolling over and falling asleep instantly.

* * *

The next morning, Patricia was very surprised to see the other side of the bed empty. She sat up instantly, kind of alarmed. Jumping out of bed, she cautiously padded around the apartment, eventually finding Eddie seated at the kitchen.

He grinned at her ruefully. He was sitting on the kitchen island, a cup of coffee on the right side of his laptop. There was a bottle of advil on the left.

"Good morning," she said, taking a seat next to him and messing up his already unruly bedhead.

"Morning," he greeted. "So..."

"Soooo," Patricia exaggerated. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"I actually wanted to talk about last night."

"Oh?" Patricia said innocently. "I don't think there's anything to talk about."

"Oh okay then."

They lapsed into silence for a good five minutes until Eddie forcefully closed his laptop and groaned aloud. "I hate you," he wailed. "You got me drunk!"

"You got yourself drunk," Patricia corrected, pinching his cheek. "You had a really good time though."

"No need to tell me, I remember," Eddie assured her, sticking out his tongue.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah 100%. Sorry about the water thing. What I was trying to say is that club was so crowded that it reminded me of explorers back in the 1500s and how the ocean was so instrumental in their - "

"Ew, no, the drunk simile was way more fun. I'm not interested in this one so save it. Make us waffles instead!"

"...Okay, that's probably a better idea," Eddie said with a sigh. "Really though, I had a pretty awesome Halloween. You looked incredible. I still say we shouldn't have gone clubbing and stuck to my plan."

Patricia flushed and pointed to the waffle maker. "Shut up and make the waffles!"

They both laughed and continued teasing each other about the night before which was basically a one-sided game in which Patricia made jokes about Eddie's conduct. They were both smiling and so happy.

It was hard to imagine that all that happiness would soon come crashing down.

* * *

**A/N:** YAY CLIFFHANGER? Or boo cliffhanger? I mean it was fun for me. You guys probably aren't as thrilled - haha oops! Also I hope this chapter wasn't too terrible. Like I said, I'm all for having a good time, but not in a party scene kind of way. Hearing your thoughts on this particular chapter would be fantastic :)

Also, the cliffhanger I left on is not the same big event I was referring to earlier so include that thing that would be TWO fairly big, more serious events. Just to clarify!


	8. Chapter 9

**A/N:**

Hi again! Thanks for all the heartfelt reviews and kind words - you're all so awesome! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed drunk Eddie. Unfortunately, this chapter isn't nearly as fun since I kind of get a kick out of writing Peddie drama as the previous cliffhanger suggested but hopefully you'll at least find this chapter interesting.

This chapter takes place around the first week of November.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Eddie's phone beeped the special tone that indicated text messages from Patricia. He swiped at his phone and glanced at the message before burying his face in his hands. Lately, things had been kind of strained between them. They weren't in a big fight but Eddie feared that's exactly where they were headed. He didn't have a good reason that explained this foreboding feeling, but somehow, he just knew trouble was right around the corner.

He wished he could explain it though. Eddie wasn't one typically lost for words. Carefully, placing his cell back on the desk, he tiredly rubbed at his face and thought about it. Maybe all the little problems they'd been having gave him this bad feeling. The smallest of things seemed to get on Patricia's nerves and surprisingly, vice versa.

When Eddie's alarm had gone off an hour earlier than Patricia's, instead of kissing him good morning before going back to sleep, she had cruelly snapped at him for disturbing her rest. When Patricia had blindly banged on the keyboard in the spare bedroom trying to emulate Piper, in the midst of an important phone call, Eddie had unplugged the entire device.

With the major winter holidays right around the corner, the couple was extremely stressed with their respective jobs, trying to work overtime to compensate for the vacation they'd be taking.

Speaking of which, that was another source of Patricia's recent stress. She was kind of dreading Eddie meeting her parents; a million different things could go wrong. The thought was terrifying. Eddie, on the other hand, was under pressure to start working on a new book, and he was nowhere ready for that. He felt as though he was back at square one: struggling for inspiration.

Essentially, Eddie mused, there was a whole slew of reasons that he and Patricia had been having a tougher time. He wouldn't call it a rough patch necessarily, but it was definitely a change of pace from their usual problem-free relationship.

Honeymoon periods don't last forever though, everyone knew that. Everything would be fine. Eddie was sure of it.

Too bad this was one of those times where he was way off the mark.

* * *

"I'm home," Eddie bellowed, barging in through the front door and shooting Patricia a genuine smile.

"Hi Eddie," she said, relatively cheerful. "I'll make dinner tonight. What do you feel like having?"

"Tacos?"

Patricia got up from the couch and lightly ruffled his hair. "That's so much work! You're going to have to help if that's what you want."

"Will do. Just give me a few minutes." Eddie hung up his coat and scarf before heading to the master bedroom to change and get comfortable. He let his mind wander as he unknotted his tie and got rid of his stiff, collared shirt. Had Patricia kissed him today? She had been cranky in the morning and she hadn't just now...that was kind of odd.

He met Patricia in the kitchen, a thoughtful frown on his face. He knew he was over thinking it and that plenty of couples didn't necessarily kiss every day, but at this stage in life, wasn't that normal for two people in love? It kind of bothered him.

"I can practically see the wheels of your mind gearing," Patricia commented. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"It's nothing."

Now _Patricia _was the one frowning. "I don't think it is," she said as gently as possible. "Since when do we hide things from each other?" A little bit of hurt seeped into her voice.

"Out of the two of us in this room, who is the champion of hiding their feelings and taking forever to say what's actually on their mind?" Eddie asked shortly. "It certainly isn't me."

"That wasn't necessary," Patricia said quietly, opting to take the high road and not insult back.

"I know. I _know." _Eddie groaned in frustration. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Forgive me?"

"Of course," Patricia murmured unconvincingly, focusing on fixing dinner.

The remainder of the taco preparation was mostly silent, and not the good kind. Patricia didn't ask Eddie for his thoughts again and in turn, he didn't offer them. They both silently worked on dinner, lost in their own thoughts.

Something that vaguely resembled guilt gnawed at Eddie's chest. He didn't like being the source of Patricia's unhappiness which in this case, he obviously was.

They grabbed their food and moved to the dining area. Eddie was a far messier eater than Patricia which is why, when the phone rang, he wasn't exactly free to answer it. "I'll get it!" he offered anyway, hoping to make up for before.

Patricia cast a quick glance of Eddie's guacamole covered hands and shook her head. "I've got it," she gave him a weak smile. "Oh. Hi Nina!" Patricia exclaimed, her tone brightening infinitely.

Eddie slumped in his chair, distraught at the fact that _his _friend could make Patricia smile like that when he couldn't.

* * *

Half an hour later and Patricia was still chatting with Nina. Eddie was only half listening, most of his attention directed towards the television.

"...Yeah we'd love to! That sounds awesome."

"What sounds awesome?" Eddie mouthed, twisting his head to make eye contact with Patricia, who for once, wasn't sitting right next to him. She held up a finger and motioned for him to be quiet, aptly listening to Nina.

"Mhm," Patricia said. "Yeah, just tell us what to cook and we'll bring it with us. I'm sure Thanksgiving at your place will be great. Thanks for the invitation! Okay, yeah. Good night. Talk to you later!"

_"What?" _

"What?" Patricia sad. "Nina invited us for Thanksgiving at their place and I accepted. Is that a problem?"

"Of course it's a problem!" Eddie exclaimed.

"I really don't see why."

"We're going on vacation to see your parents for Christmas! I'm going to be in the UK on Christmas and I won't get to see my dad. Fine, there's New Years. But Thanksgiving was supposed to be for my mom! She also hasn't met you, incase you hadn't noticed."

"Don't raise your voice," Patricia said, growing upset. "When were you going to tell me this? It's November 8th!"

"Thanksgiving isn't for another couple of weeks. I would have told you soon."

"Well you didn't, so don't get mad at me for it," Patricia defended. "What's the big deal? We'll just call back and say we had a change of plans."

_"That's rude."_

Patricia scoffed. "Are you kidding me? Fabian and Nina are your best friends! You can tell them anything. It's not rude, it's just being honest. That's not a big deal at all. You're overreacting."

"Maybe so, but you should have asked me before accepting."

Now Patricia was getting worked up too. "This is a stupid fight," she declared. "I don't have _ask _your permission for _anything, _so let's be clear. In relationships as serious as ours, sometimes one person makes decisions on behalf of the other. It happens. Get used to it."

"Oh, because you know _so _much about relationships."

"Excuse me?"

The words were tumbling out now and Eddie found that he couldn't stop himself. He was sick and tired of always being the mature one when they argued. How many times had Patricia cut lose and said things she didn't mean? How many times had she overreacted? Wasn't he allowed to have those same moments?

"You heard what I said," he said coldly. "Before me, I recall you saying you had never even been in a relationship so what could you possibly know about - "

"Dont. You. Dare." Patricia interrupted, angry tears springing to her eyes. "That's unacceptable. What gives you the right to use personal information like that against me? So I'm some kind of loser because I didn't have any experience before I met you and I was full fledged adult? That's not that weird. In fact, it happens all the time! I'm sorry you had fifty million girlfriends before me but we can't all be that popular."

"Obviously not," Eddie scoffed, his tone bitter and condescending rather than teasing.

"Unbelievable. You're talking as though you're better than me! One book published and a history of having sex with random girls and getting drunk at random clubs and you suddenly think you're all that."

"That's not even true!" Eddie protested. "Yes, I had a social life in college and in high school. Don't penalize me for being normal."

"Implying that I'm _not _normal?" Patricia challenged.

"I said what I said," Eddie shrugged, ignoring the racing beat of his heart. What was he doing? Moreover, what was he saying? Deep in the back of his mind, he knew this was a stupid argument but he couldn't stop himself from lashing out.

"This is too much," Patricia almost whispered, her voice filled with rage and hurt. "Of all the disagreements we've had...you've never been this mean. You've never done this to me before."

"There's a first for everything," Eddie said loudly, still sarcastic. "Maybe I'm being mean but don't pretend you haven't done the same. If for once, I'm being the unreasonable one, can't you just go with it? I always do. But no, you can't. Because it's always about you."

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Patricia found herself screaming. "I'm mean sometimes, fine. But I've never made fun of you for your past with the exception of five minutes ago which was exaggerated, anyway. _You _though took hardcore facts and hurt me with it. That's terrible, Eddie! Yeah maybe sometimes I'm mean, but right now, you're being much worse! You knew what you were getting into when you said you wanted to be with me."

"Well maybe that was a mistake." The words were out of Eddie's mouth before he could stop it and he froze. Patricia stepped back as though she had been slapped in the face. He was already regretting his words. He didn't know how the argument had even started or why but obviously, bottling in random stress and than projecting it on the love of your life wasn't the way to go. "Patricia I..."

"No," she whispered. "No more words. You don't want to be with me? Fine. More than fine. You want to call the engagement off? Well guess what? I DO TOO."

Eddie was beginning to panic. Yes, that's what he had implied, but he hadn't meant it! "No, I didn't mean it," he said desperately. He saw Patricia eying the coat closet. "No, please don't go. I was completely out of line but let's just calm down and talk about it rationally."

"I tried to!" Patricia exclaimed. "I tried to, and look what you said! I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to BE with you. And it's fine because you don't want it either."

"That's not _true," _Eddie pleaded. "I really want this relationship to last. Don't go!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Patricia snapped. "You're the one that should leave."

At this, Eddie was taken aback. He stopped is pleas only to give her an odd look. "Why me? This is my apartment too."

Gritting her teeth, Patricia grabbed the jug of water from the coffee table and poured it all over his head. Eddie gasped and she continued to glare. "YOU INSENSITIVE JERK. You're going to start ANOTHER argument with me after breaking up with me?"

"I did not break up with you!"

"You implied it!"

"Well I'm taking it back! I didn't _mean _it, I'm sorry, I - "

"Don't you dare apologize when you don't even mean it," Patricia said. Her rage was dying out and all that's left was pain.

She was so confused. And she knew Eddie was too. It was the dumbest of fights, that much she knew. But a lot of hurtful words had been exchanged and that was difficult to take in.

Patricia couldn't remember feeling so distressed in all her life. All the hurt she had felt over not being close to her parents, feeling like Piper was better, getting shuffled around from town to town as a child, the loneliness in boarding school and in college...nothing compared to this. Nothing.

She didn't want to believe that this was the end but right now that's what it felt like. Eddie showing her a flash of what a happy person looked like, showing her what love looked like, starting to plan a life with her only to snatch it all away. Fights happened. She knew that but...a random outburst like this? _Well maybe that was a mistake? _What was that supposed to even mean?

She didn't even want to think about it, she was crying so hard. Patricia hadn't noticed but at some point the tears had begun to roll. Grabbing her coat and purse she didn't cast Eddie a second look before storming out, letting the door slam behind her.

Eddie was so stunned that for once in his life, he didn't follow her.

And when Patricia realized he wasn't going to be chased, she cried harder.

* * *

Eddie was a mess of emotion. He was confused. Hurt. Guilty. Angry. Remorseful. Upset. Every negative emotion under the sun, he was feeling it. What had he done? What had he said? He knew it wasn't all his fault but a good majority of it was and he knew that.

He tried to remember the things he had said and cringed as each hurtful jab popped into his mind. What was wrong with him?

He had numbly texted Fabian a half hour after Patricia had walked out, asking if he or Nina had seen her. Fabian had said no, worriedly calling him for more information. Because surely, it was a strange request to ask your best friend if he had seen your finance.

Eddie ignored Fabian's call and stared at the door, praying Patricia would walk back in so they could talk. But mostly, so he could know for sure that he was safe.

Because if Patricia wasn't with Fabian and Nina, who else could she be with? She didn't have close friends, to Eddie's knowledge.

The panic was beginning to build.

It was now past midnight.

What if she didn't have anywhere to go? What if she was cold? What if she got mugged? Or attacked? Hurt? Hit by a car?

Eddie shook his head and dispelled the morbid thoughts.

_No,_ Patricia was a perfectly capable woman, he was sure she was fine.

Their relationship wasn't though.

Was this a fight? Was this a breakup?

He had no clue but he wouldn't forgive himself if this was the end. That was the one thought that stuck with Eddie as he buried his face into one of the sofa cushions and let his own tears fall, too distressed to got sleep.

* * *

**A/N:**

-hides-

Don't be mad at me?! I know there's a lot of drama and angst but it was time to spice things up.

So a couple of notes: Patricia and Eddie's fight was blown out of proportion and blown from something stupid and they were both so stressed that they took it out on each other and they did technically breakup if you look purely at the words they spoke. So I'm not sure if it's realistic to have them fight so dramatically, but I did my best to justify it.

Also I know the language and structure of this chapter was a little messy. Actually who am I kidding, it was all over the place! But that's mostly because it reflects the confusion and disorganization of Patricia and Eddie's thoughts so that's why it may seem a little...disjointed. I would have loved to describe the scene more but it ended up being dialogue-based (as is everything I write - oops!) and so yeah - basically, I apologize if I wasn't coherent.

Stay tuned for more! I'd love to hear your opinions on this chapter. It was kind of a big one!


	9. Chapter 10

**A/N:**

I'm blown away by the number of reviews I received for the last chapter. Thank you so much! I heard from a lot of new people which is always lovely and even if you were just telling me I broke your heart (haha aw oops!) I still really appreciate hearing from you all. The response to the last chapter was overwhelmingly fantastic so thanks again :)

Also - how proud are you that I managed to update twice this week?! Or are you just shocked? Either way, here's a very timely update, friends! (I know a lot of you probably don't even read my notes but I make it a point to just pretend you are. And so I address you as friends anyway since I think you're all incredible.) But anyway yeah - it seems like I'm more motivated to write when HOA isn't on air. Go figure. Plus I figured it would be kind of mean to not update for a couple weeks given the events of the last chapter.

This chapter takes place the day after their fight, beginning of the second week of November.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Eddie eventually succumbed to sleep around five in the morning, only to have his alarm ring an hour later. He woke up immediately and the events of last night rushed back into his mind as his stomach clenched.

Oh that's right.

He was basically the worst person on the planet.

Rubbing at his already bloodshot eyes, Eddie wiped away a stray tear (Maybe Patricia was right about him sometimes acting girly) and reached for his cellphone. He was hoping for some kind of word from Patricia. But there was nothing.

No missed calls. No new text messages. Nothing.

He could swear he could literally feel his heart sinking right to his stomach. His chest constricted before he let out a strangled breath; he was in so much trouble. He literally couldn't _breathe_. Eddie had never had a panic attack before, but if he didn't pull himself together, that's exactly what would happen.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to think.

The thing about Patricia was that she was stubborn. She was most likely safe, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of reaching out to him. Not that he deserved it, but still. Even more poignant than the ache of their breakup was the ache of not knowing where she was and if she was okay or not.

So he did what he should have done ages ago. He called her, fully aware that she wouldn't pick up. Still, that didn't stop him. He called another two times waiting only a few minutes in-between before bombarding her with text messages.

_Please call me back._

_I just want to know that you're okay._

_Just let me know that you're all right. You don't have to speak to me now. _

_...Or ever._

_Patricia?_

This was getting out of hand. After the fifth message, he stopped. He knew he hadn't done nearly enough but he didn't want to annoy her further. (Since yes; Eddie was assuming she was okay because he refused to accept any other scenario.) Still though, he was plagued with horrible thoughts of terrible things that could have happened.

With a frustrated groan, Eddie checked his watch. He still had enough time to get to work on time but Nina would be there and she would be curious since after all, he did have three missed calls from a very concerned Fabian who probably wanted to know if he had found Patricia. Not that she was missing per say. She had _left _and because of him.

Deciding not to go to work, Eddie turned the volume of his phone all the way up incase Patricia decided to call before sinking back onto the couch and letting his eyes slide shut - just for a moment.

He'd gather his thoughts and then everything would be fine.

It had to be.

* * *

"Your phone has been buzzing a lot," Amber observed. "You must be _really _popular. That's amazing!"

"I'm not," Patricia mumbled.

That was one of the many things Eddie had cruelly implied last night. He had made her seem like less, just because she was an introvert and was essentially the opposite of popular. Always had been.

She avoided the curious gaze of her ex-classmate from law school and sighed.

What was she doing here? She and Amber were friends but not close ones. Well Amber probably thought differently considering the extravagant birthday party she had organized for Patricia last year, but the fact of the matter was, they didn't really know each other all that well.

Yet Amber had been perfectly accommodating, not judging Patricia for randomly showing up at her apartment around one in the morning. She had asked plenty of questions, but when she realized Patricia wasn't going to answer yet, she had thankfully quieted down for the night.

Now though, she was ready to take up the topic again.

"Why are you here?" she politely asked Patricia. "If I recall, you have a very cute boyfriend as your next door neighbor."

"We actually live together now," Patricia corrected. Her face crumpled a second later. "Or we _did_."

Amber squealed, completely missing Patricia's distress. "That's such a big step to take!"

"Well he is...was...my fiancé."

"He proposed and you didn't tell me?!" Amber demanded. "I want to help plan the wedding!" A second later Patricia's words seemed to register. "Hold on..._was_?"

"I don't think we're together anymore," Patricia said softly. Her face flushed and her eyes welled up. She covered her face with her hands, horribly embarrassed at the tears that threatened to overflow. "I'm not even sure what I'm doing here."

To her credit, Amber became serious. As serious as she could be, anyway. "Heartache," she said sagely, joining Patricia on the sofa and gently resting a hand on her shoulder. "But if you don't mind me asking, you seem confused. What exactly happened?"

"A fight gone wild," Patricia sniffled. "He said stuff...I said stuff. He said he didn't mean it but he's never said anything like that before! I don't know if I can trust him which incidentally is one of the horrible things he mocked me for. Being slow to trust people."

"He said that?"

"A lot of it was implied," Patricia admitted. "But Amber, you should have seen him," she continued, surprised she was opening up to the bubbly young woman. "He was so terrible! He's always the calm one. He just kind of lost it and over something so dumb. I've never seen him like that. It was awful."

"Hmm...summarize?"

Patricia was impressed by Amber's listening skills. They had studied law together so she knew Amber was bright (potentially for the wrong reasons but bright nonetheless) but it had been a while since she had seen her old classmate snap into this kind of serious mode.

"Basically our friends called us and invited us for Thanksgiving and I said yes and he got really upset. He said that we were supposed to spend Thanksgiving with his mom he basically blamed me and made it sound negative that we were visiting _my _parents for Christmas. It just got blown out of proportion. He said that I don't know anything about relationships, that I'm not normal, _that he doesn't want to be with me..." _Patricia broke off, choking on a muffled sob.

It was humiliating but she couldn't help her feelings. It hurt so bad.

"So I said I don't want to be with him either and stormed out," she finished in a whisper. "Amber...I can't. It feels like..."

Amber let her friend trail off miserably, who was clearly at a loss for words. She leaned in and gave Patricia a big hug before standing up and passing her a tissue box.

"I'm going to make tea and then we can sort things out," she said. "Hold on."

Amber returned and handed Patricia a cup of tea, worriedly twirling the ends of her blond hair. "So did you two break up?"

"That's the thing...he sort of said he didn't want to be with me. Then I said the same. And then he said he didn't mean it but I was so upset that I basically implied that I was done and I stormed out but..."

"You're not really done," Amber guessed.

"I don't want to be," Patricia whispered. "I know it sounds cliched but the past year has been the absolute happiest time of my life. I can't imagine my life without Eddie. Oh my god, I sound so girly."

"Because you're a girl," Amber reminded her almost cheerfully, waving off Patricia's disgust at her cliched words. She waved Patricia's phone in the air. "He's contacted you several times. Maybe you should tell him everything you just told me."

"But he hurt me. I don't think I'm ready to speak to him."

"But do you really want him worrying about you? Look at all these messages! Eddie doesn't know where you are, he must be worried sick. At least reach out and let him know you need space. You can stay here and work through your feelings in the mean time."

Patricia read through the messages and hung her head in shame. "You're right. Thanks so much Amber. He _is _really worried but at the same time, this fight is mainly on him. Although in the past it's been on me so..."

"Don't confuse yourself," Amber said wisely. "Just text him and tell him you're okay and you can analyze the argument later and decide what to do when you're thinking straight."

_Staying with Amber. I'm okay. But I need space._

Patricia looked up from her phone and smiled gratefully at her phone. "I have to say, Amber. There's more to you than I thought there was. Your advice was really good."

"Well of course it was," Amber beamed and fluffed her hair. "Now go take a nap! We'll work things out, okay? It has to work out. It just _has _to."

"And why is that? Why are you so determined that things have to work out?"

"Because I wanna be a bridesmaid. _Obviously_."

For the first time in over a day, Patricia cracked a small (albeit weak) smile.

Maybe with Amber's counsel she'd be able to work through her feelings. Maybe all hope wasn't lost.

* * *

Eddie woke up to someone shaking his shoulders. He jolted upwards with a start, praying it was Patricia.

It wasn't.

"Eddie!" Fabian exclaimed in relief. "I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes now. You scared me."

"I'm really tired," Eddie muttered in response. He didn't bother to ask how Fabian had managed to enter. Obviously, Fabian had taken advantage of the spare key he had been entrusted with.

"Are you sick?" Fabian asked worriedly, looking his friend over, searching for signs of illness. "Between last night's cryptic text messages and you not showing up for work today, we've been really worried. Nina sent me here actually."

"Sorry man," Eddie said rubbing at his eyes blearily and sitting up straight. "You wasted your lunch break on me?"

"You're never a waste," Fabian said seriously before gently punching his best friend's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"I think I'm single."

_"What?"_

Eddie took a deep breath and told him everything ranging from the last week's troubles to last night's argument. He didn't holding back, confessing to each and every awful thing he had said. Fabian winced at Eddie's every other sentence which only made him feel worse and more guilty, but he knew he deserved it.

"I don't know what to do, Fabian," he croaked. "First of all, I don't even know where Patricia is."

"With Amber," Fabian nudged Eddie's phone. "Sorry dude. I read your new texts while I was trying to wake you up. I was worried."

"There was a passcode lock on that," Eddie protested. "You hacked my phone?"

Despite everything, Fabian grinned with pride. "I mean, I definitely could have. But no, I just guessed the code. Alternating important birthdays as passwords isn't a smart thing to do. As if I don't know when my birthday is."

Eddie smiled faintly before checking his messages and sucking in a deep breath when he read the one from Patricia. His face crumpled.

"I thought you'd be happy. You know she's safe now," Fabian observed his friend's forlorn expression.

"But she doesn't want to see me," Eddie muttered.

Fabian was sympathetic, but he didn't believe in deluding people, even his friends. "Can you blame her?" he pointed out gently, reluctant to hurt his friend.

"No," Eddie admitted. He paused before speaking again and when he did, his tone was panic filled. "But...I don't know if we're engaged or not! I can't sit here and give her space not knowing if I've ruined my entire future."

"I'm sure you haven't," Fabian countered. "You know Patricia loves you."

"She might not anymore," Eddie said, face pale.

"You don't stop loving someone that quickly. Sometimes you don't stop ever," Fabian said firmly. "You have to pull yourself together and just stay calm."

Eddie nodded slowly, still looking extremely upset. "It's just...my parents got divorced. They weren't right for each other but they _were_ married for so many years before they split. And now me and my fiancé might have separated before officially coming together. I can't be doomed to a life alone. I don't want to be like my parents."

"You're talking divorce before you've even gotten to the wedding," Fabian soothed.

"That's my point! I really thought I had found the person I intend to spend the rest of my life with."

"You have," Fabian assured Eddie.

In their college days it had mainly been Eddie comforting Fabian who was more prone to be anxious. Strangely enough, neither boy had experienced trouble expressing their feelings. Of course, preferably they liked keeping the serious talks to a minimum but they were brothers in all but blood, and Fabian found it his personal responsibility to make sure Eddie didn't lose his mind.

"You should have been back at work an hour ago," Eddie said suddenly, looking even more regretful than he already did.

"This is more important," Fabian declared.

"Fabian Rutter ditching work? The world must be coming to an end." Fabian, who had made his way to Eddie's desk in the master bedroom, chuckled. "What are you doing?"

Fabian pulled a little blue notebook from the bottom right drawer and handed it to Eddie, also providing him with a pen. "Giving you this."

Eddie swallowed hard, turning over the notebook in his hands. It was one of his oldest ones; he only put his deepest feelings in there. Usually his dark poetry and most miserable feelings.

"You knew the passcode lock to my phone _and _where I keep my special notebook?"

Fabian beamed. "Not bad, huh?"

"And what am I supposed to do with this?"

"I hardly need to tell you that," Fabian said gently, shaking Eddie's shoulder one last time before disappearing into the kitchen to fix himself a snack. When Eddie glanced over, his best friend had also set up his laptop at the dining table. Evidently, he wasn't going to impose on Eddie's space, but he was still going to stick around.

Eddie had never felt more grateful for his friend in that moment.

He stared pensively at the notebook before flinging it open. The moment his pen hit the paper, a thousand thoughts invaded his mind. He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to make his pen keep up with his racing thoughts.

The only sounds that could be heard were the soft clicking sounds coming from Fabian's laptop and the rough scribbles coming from Eddie viciously attacking his notebook.

Utterly uncertain of his future, Eddie wrote some of his darkest, heartbreaking work of all time that night.

* * *

**A/N:**

I brought back Amber! She briefly appeared in DT so I figured it made sense to use her as Patricia's outlet since it wouldn't make sense for Patricia to go to Fabian and Nina so they were Eddie's friends first. Although Nina would never mind if Patricia confided her and would remain unbiased, Patricia would definitely feel like she couldn't for fear of dividing the couple over her and Eddie's argument.

Also I'm well aware there was no Eddie and Patricia interaction this chapter. It can't be that simple.

Hope you all enjoyed this installment despite the obvious lack of Peddie!


	10. Chapter 11

**A/N:**

It's been over a week again? Time flies! I guess it's good I managed to magically update twice in a week last time. Now that CSOTA is complete, hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace with TH. As always, thanks for the amazing comments!

Now I know this chapter might not please you, since it's not exactly a reunion, but stick with me! I suppose this is a tad of a filler but we're almost there. As an additional note, I'd just like to let you all know that we're about halfway through this fic. I have 20 planned chapters but it could be a little less or a little more, depending.

Please note I made a mistake in the last chapter in saying it takes place over the timespan of a week. Chapter 10 was actually just the day after the big argument (I went back and edited the A/N) and _this_ chapter takes place a week over the course of the week after that. So think November 9th-16ish!

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

It had been over a week since the "break up" which Eddie had to keep reminding himself wasn't a breakup at all. At least, that was the impression he was under. Needing space implied there would be conversation, right? It couldn't be over. It just couldn't be.

Needless to say, Eddie was insufferable to be around. He was miserable and it showed to people who knew him well enough. For example, Mara had politely rejected his hastily crafted book of depressing, heart-wrenching poems. ("As your editor, I simply can't let this go further in the publishing process. This won't bring you literary success, it'll bring a herd of therapists to your doorstep. Stop e-mailing me this document, Eddie. The answer is no!") After that, his mood had become even more foul which both Fabian and Nina had sworn wasn't possible.

"You're driving me insane," Nina whispered at work.

"I didn't say anything," Eddie replied stiffly, gloom clouding his features.

"Well that's the point," Nina argued back. "This is a team effort. I need your input on this. You're going to have to talk to me."

Eddie had scowled a moment before his face became blank. He snatched up his favorite red pen and mutilated the article in front of him.

"It wasn't that awful. You're being harsh!" Nina looked at the angry red lines that were slashed across the paper in shock. "You're supposed to edit it, not tear it apart."

"Trash it. I can't help that it's not worth reading."

Eddie crumpled up the piece of paper and aimed for the dust bin. He missed. Nina hoped he would glare or shout or express some kind of expression but he did no such thing. Instead, he stood up and excused himself from the office.

Nina sighed and texted Fabian. When Eddie got like this, Fabian was one of the only people that could him. Obviously, Patricia could too, but God knows she wasn't a choice. As a friendly gesture, Nina had texted Patricia to check in on her and offered to meet for coffee but Patricia had politely declined.

Nina didn't think Patricia could agree since she understood her logic, but she had sell hoped. It was clear that Patricia felt that confiding in Nina and Fabian might result in the two of them fighting over herself and Eddie and she also probably felt as though they were primarily Eddie's friends, even though that was no longer true.

* * *

"You're depressed," Fabian wrung his hands together in concern. He had once again invaded Eddie's apartment, partially on Nina's orders. "Should I call your dad? That will cheer you up."

That got a reaction from Eddie.

"No, don't! He snapped his head up and shook his head fervently from side to side. "I can't hide a thing from my dad," he explained dully. "He'll know something's wrong in a heartbeat. It will only take him a couple seconds longer to figure out what the exact problem is and I can't have him worrying over this. He's so excited for our holiday visit. I don't want to tell him anything unless..."_  
_

"Unless you and Patricia split up and don't end up going to the UK," Fabian finished for his friend. "Of course. I see. But...do you see how you're unwilling to make that phone call? It's because you still think there's hope. And there is! She's still your fiancé, Eddie. Don't forget that."

"Is she?" Eddie laughed humorously, desperately. "She said she didn't want to be."

"You said much worse," Fabian pointed out.

"Not helping."

"No, but that's my point," Fabian urged, taking a seat beside his best friend. "If you didn't mean what you said and are regretting it, it's almost a sure bet that Patricia feels the same. I'm almost positive she misses you as much as you miss her. Just give her time to sort her feelings out. Poor thing is probably really confused. You know how girls get. They're emotional beings."

"And I'm not?" A ghost of a smile crossed Eddie's face as he joked at his own expense. Fabian's words had given him new found hope. "Look at me. I'm a complete mess. I'm worse than a girl, even."

"Oh for sure," Fabian agreed, relieved to see a smile on Eddie's face. "You don't eat, you don't sleep, you can't concentrate on your work, you mope, you - "

He stopped after spotting Eddie's icy glare.

"Right, sorry," Fabian mumbled sheepishly. "I think I'm going to head home but I swear Eddie, things are going to work out."

Eddie nodded gratefully and grabbed his jacket, exiting the apartment behind Fabian.

"Oh. You joining us for dinner?"

"No, just going out for a bit," Eddie replied.

He was thankful that he was close enough to Fabian and Nina that even after marriage, they never minded when he stopped by unannounced, but he tried not to take advantage of that too much. Besides, he was already driving Nina up the wall at work. No need to invade her home too.

Fabian frowned. "Out," he repeated with skepticism. "Want me to come with you? We can hang out."

Eddie smiled faintly. He knew Fabian was worried that since he was so miserable, he might go out and do something stupid, but that wasn't his plan. He appreciated that his friend was willing to look out for it, but Fabian had been entertaining him all week.

"I want to be alone," he said.

"Well don't do anything you'll regret," Fabian replied worriedly. "Stay safe."

"Okay, mom," Eddie weakly attempted to joke once more. "Whose the emotional wreck now?"

"Still you," Fabian grumbled. "Okay, see you later then." With one last wave, he walked down the block and disappeared around the corner.

Relieved to be alone, Eddie hit the nearest bar.

Surprisingly, he wasn't in the mood to get drunk and "forget" everything. His life was cliched enough as is; the last thing he wanted to do was become that lonely brokenhearted guy drinking his heart's content at some raunchy bar.

Instead, he ordered food and nursed one beer all evening long. He just wanted to think outside the confinements of the apartment. Being home was too hard. It reminded him of Patricia. Quite frankly, nights were the worst. It was hard to sleep alone after getting accustomed to sleeping at Patricia's side.

He could still picture her hurt face...the tears streaming down her face...

He shuddered.

"Wanna buy me a drink?"

Eddie looked up to see a young woman looking at him as though he was _edible _or something. She was actually batting her eyelashes at him, dressed in a short black dress. Dear god. He didn't realize girls _actually _did that thing with their eyelashes.

Suddenly feeling kind of sick, Eddie rose to his feet in one clumsy motion and slapped some cash onto the counter. "I'm engaged," he mumbled, before escaping the girl's clutches.

He vaguely heard her mutter "tease" behind him, but he didn't stop to offer a counter argument. It wasn't until he was safely seated back in his apartment that he stopped to ponder her words. How on _earth _had he been acting like a tease?

He tried to picture the woman's face but he couldn't even remember. The only image that popped into his head was Patricia.

He was so in love that it was sickening.

_Doing okay? Don't get drunk! - Fabian_

Eddie grinned at his friend's text message and ratted off a sarcastic reply, assuring him that he was back home, perfectly sober. He dimly registered that he had sincerely smiled for the first time in a week.

Sinking back into the couch, he flipped to his conversation with Patricia and sighed. No new messages from her. He was assuming she'd be initiating the peace talks considering she had been the one to call for space.

But in a moment of weakness, he texted anyway.

_I miss you. _

It couldn't hurt, right? He had resisted all week long.

* * *

Patricia wanted to go home. And damn it all, Eddie was her home.

She couldn't stop staring at her phone.

_I miss you. _

Eddie's text message was driving her insane, begging to be answered. But she had to resist. She needed more time.

Yet all she wanted to do was go home to Eddie and never leave his arms ever again. Oops. She had officially morphed into a lovesick teenager.

At least, she had been distracted all week long though. Living with Amber was...interesting. The girl never stopped talking. Literally. She talked in her sleep too. That had made for some amusing times.

But some of Amber's prattle was constructive too. With her help, Patricia had come to some important revelations. Granted, it was stuff she already knew, but it was still good to hash things out. She had ranted, raved, cried, rambled, everything.

And Amber had actually listened.

By the end of another week, Patricia felt much better about the fight. She felt as though she understood it. Like she was ready for conversation. She loved Eddie and she needed to tell him so. And she _knew _he felt the same, knew he regretted everything.

So all that's left was to work up the courage to text him or call him and ask to meet up and talk. Or she could just go home and surprise him and they could talk then. (Who was she kidding? The latter option required more guts than she had.)

Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to contact him though. So instead, she did the next best thing: she went to Ella's Coffee Shop.

It was a sentimental place for her.

She used to work there. She had secretly spied on Eddie there multiple times (no regrets) and even had coffee with him there. It had been _their _coffee shop before they moved further uptown.

She had been expecting to feel some comfort, to be able to indulge in happy memories of spending time with Eddie. She had been hoping to work up the courage to text him.

What she hadn't been expecting was to bump into him.

Literally.

So lost in her own thoughts, she had completely missed the fact that the line was fairly long and she had walked into the person who was standing smack in front of her.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I wasn't looking, I - _oh," _she breathed. "Eddie."

"Um, hi," he said, equally stunned. "I can leave if you want. I swear I didn't plan this. I know you need space, so..."

"It's okay," Patricia muttered. "It's just coffee, right?"

"Right."

Eddie coughed and cleared his throat. He looked as though he wanted to say something more, like he was torn in between launching into a lovestruck monologue and hugging her and never letting go.

But he did neither of those things.

Instead, he forced his feet to turn and he swiveled around, focused on the line in front of him. Patricia took a couple steps back so there was more space in-between them in the line and let her mind race.

_What should I do? Should I talk to him? Or not? Do I just leave like nothing happened?_

"Your order, miss?"

Patricia was jarred into awareness and she hastily ordered a caramel macchiato. She pulled out her wallet to pay, but the cashier stopped her.

"Um, no miss, that's alright. The gentleman ahead of you paid for you. He guessed your order too, I was just making sure." She grinned up at Patricia like she thought Eddie was the most romantic person ever and like it was all one big game, romance in a coffee shop.

"Oh um, okay then," Patricia jammed her hands in her jacket pockets awkwardly and stepped to the side to wait for her drink. She didn't dare to turn around and search for Eddie. He was probably gone, anyway.

But when her drink was ready she couldn't stop herself from looking.

She turned around and spotted him outside the store, only lingering to give a homeless person loose change.

She had to go after him. Before she lost her nerve.

With that last thought of determination, Patricia exited Ella's Coffee and speed walked towards her fiancé.

"Eddie, wait!"

* * *

**A/N:**

Almost done torturing you! Eddie/Patricia interaction is right around the corner :)

But out of curiosity, if I were to torture you further and put a character in danger, which one would you want it to be? That's a new thought I've been kind of messing around with. Haha, hopefully that won't make anyone too mad! It might not even happen and I won't expand on what I mean by "danger" but let's put it this way...there is room to spice up my outline if I so choose. So I'm interested to know who you'd like to see on the worse end of things...if I explore that option!


	11. Chapter 12

**A/N:**

This week was another "double update" week - love when I can pull that off :) Thank you for all the spectacular reviews! They were all so motivating and I think you'll find that this chapter is the one you've been waiting for.

Also thanks for all the input regarding who you'd like to see in "danger." I got an interesting mix of answers. It still might not happen but if it does, I know who it'll be.

This chapter takes place right before Thanksgiving as in the week of.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

It was safe to say that Eddie landing up at Ella's Coffee Shop hadn't been some kind of twisted plot in order to talk to Patricia. If he had looked surprised to see her in line, he looked even more shocked to see her chasing him outside.

Hearing his name being called, Eddie halted and waited. He was bewildered. He didn't think Patricia was interested in speaking to him judging by the way they had ignored each other in line after awkwardly acknowledging each other's presence. But she hadn't told him to leave when he had offered so that was something. Could it be that Patricia wanted to talk to him?

Eddie stood still at the street corner, mostly because he was too flabbergasted to do anything else. He tried to squash the hope that invaded his chest. He didn't want to get optimistic only to be shut down and disappointed.

Patricia was speedily walking towards him before she threw all caution to the wind and broke out in a light jog. It suddenly seemed imperative to be at Eddie's side after being away for three weeks. "Um..thanks for the coffee," she mumbled.

Thanks for the coffee? Patricia could have slapped herself. She was acting like the shy, clueless person she had been when she had first met Eddie. Memories of her standing outside Eddie's door and stammering and fumbling for words suddenly entered her mind and she couldn't help but smile just a little bit.

This only further confused Eddie. "It's just coffee," he muttered bashfully, jamming his free hand in his jacket pocket. He clutched his coffee cup in the other as though it was some kind of lifeline. When Patricia didn't say anything immediately, he gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement before beginning to cross the street.

He took all of two steps before Patricia pulled him back, stopping him from walking right in front of a zooming cab. The driver blared his horn at Eddie before zipping past. Eddie glanced at the pedestrian crossing sign to see it bright and red. Trust him to lose all his senses when he was in a fight with Patricia. He couldn't even think straight enough to cross the street properly. He offered Patricia a quiet thanks before turning and awkwardly waiting for the walk sign.

"I was hoping it was more than coffee," Patricia suddenly said, referring to Eddie's earlier comment. Seeing Eddie's heightened confusion, she pointed towards her coffee cup. "This. I was hoping it was maybe...a peace offering?"

Finally catching Patricia's gist, Eddie cracked a weak grin. "Is that all it's going to take? One large argument, a break up, three weeks of silence, and then _coffee _is what makes it all better?"

"Coffee and a long conversation," Patricia murmured seriously. "A long conversation I'm now ready to have. If you'd like to."

"Yeah, I would," Eddie said immediately. It was official. He no longer had control over the whole "not hoping" thing. He was absolutely hoping, downright _praying _that things were finally about to get better.

"Okay. Let's go home then."

_Home._

Eddie had never heard a better word in his life.

"Also, Eddie?" Patricia called, waiting until she had his full attention. "Just for the record...we were never broken up."

There were a million things Eddie felt like replying ranging from a sarcastic "you could have fooled me" to a casual "I knew that."

But instead, he found himself casting his pride aside. He let out a strangled "thank god" and tentatively reached out a gloved hand in Patricia's general direction and waited.

She smiled softly and took his hand, blaming the stray tears rolling down her cheeks on the force of the wind.

* * *

It felt so good to be home.

Patricia stepped inside the apartment and gazed thoughtfully and the colorful walls that she and Eddie had so painstakingly spent time on. It had definitely been too long.

"You missed the apartment," Eddie guessed, uncertainly settling himself into the armchair. He knew they were about to have a difficult conversation and while he had been in a handful of serious relationships, never had he had to deal with a situation quite as delicate.

"I missed you more," Patricia replied honestly. She wanted nothing more than to climb into Eddie's lap and never leave but it was a little too soon for that kind of proximity. She settled for the sofa, scooting to the edge so she and Eddie were diagonal, only a couple feet in between them.

Eddie cleared his throat. "You wanted space so uh...why don't you call the shots? Just this once." He was hoping his joke would lighten the mood and to a certain extent it did.

"It's funny..." Patricia began. "Three weeks ago I had so much to say. I think I could have yelled at you for hours. Now though...it's all so calm. I kind of just want to forget about the whole thing."

"I couldn't agree more but that's not something we can do," Eddie anxiously leaned forward in his seat. "The fight may have been stupid but the consequences weren't. We're going to have to talk."

"You said it was a mistake that you wanted to be with me," Patricia mumbled softly. The words sounded foreign to her own ears. It was always so _hard _to have these emotional conversations. "That really hurt."

"I'm so sorry," Eddie said quickly, sincerity oozing from his voice. "I know it's no excuse but people do say things they don't mean when they're angry."

"Yeah," Patricia agreed. She fiddled with her bracelet, finding it easier than meeting Eddie's gaze. "But I don't think those exact words is what bothered me the most. I think the reason why I've been so upset is because I'd never you seen you like that before. You're always so nice, so put together. So understanding. I know that all couples fight but...you know _everything _about me. And I felt like you were deliberately using it against me to be cruel...not just out of random rage...you know?"

Her voice was shaking but so far she hadn't let any tears spill. She knew she wouldn't last long though. Outside the court room, she was an emotional being.

Eddie sighed deeply.

"Yeah, I understand," he mumbled, looking ashamed. "I didn't mean to come across so rude. I honestly regretted everything the moment I said it. But I was just so mad and I guess you're right. Some part of me knew I was hurting you and I just couldn't bring myself to care. I guess I felt like in all fights it's always you going off on me and me coming and apologizing when it's not even always my fault. I just...I guess I just wanted to let go. Wanted this fight to be mine. Obviously, it didn't go down well."

Patricia considered his words, slowly understanding. All the times she had overreacted or unnecessarily picked tiffs with Eddie entered her mind and she was surprised at the guilt she had felt. She had been naive enough to think this conversation would be about Eddie apologizing to _her _but he wasn't the only one to blame. There was a lot more going on here.

In fact, more than exchanging apologies, Patricia and Eddie were doing some serious self-reflecting. Patricia was almost grateful; when Eddie was admitting his flawed behavior it made it easier for her to do the same. And somehow it seemed less mushy than nonstop apologizing. She _was _sorry and he was too, but she was pretty sure at this point they were both aware of their mutual remorse.

"I do have a bad temper," she admitted. "I guess I can be more careful in the future so that things don't escalate. So you don't feel as though you're always taking the blame. That's not fair of me."

"Thank you," Eddie too was staring at the ground. "And I won't keep everything bottled up. I shouldn't have gone off on you on something so trivial. I've just been so stressed and it had been a tough day and I really don't know where all the anger came from," he said, sounding ashamed and disappointed in himself. "I'm not usually like that."

"I know you're not," Patricia finally raised her eyes and looked at him.

Feeling her gaze, Eddie looked up too and leaned in a little closer. "I'm really sorry," he whispered. "I've been an absolute mess without you."

"I'm sorry too," Patricia murmured.

She desperately wanted to reach out and touch is arm, stroke his cheek, kiss his lips, anything really. She was so distracted by her need to be close to him that she almost missed his last statement. Almost.

"Wait..what? You've been a mess?" she asked in disbelief.

Eddie looked at her as though she was mental. "Yeah," he winced. "Classic meltdown. I missed a couple days of work, haven't been sleeping right, or eating right for that matter, I haven't been so social, I wrote some poetry...that kind of thing. The rational part of me knew you weren't gone for good but I couldn't help but remembering my parents divorce and I don't know...it felt like I had failed. Like we didn't last before we had even started type thing. It was kind of...haunting."

He looked alarmed at Patricia's guilty, remorseful expression.

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad," he said hurriedly. "I just...no point in lying. You should know that I've been a little bit of a train wreck."

Patricia had figured Eddie wouldn't be sleeping well. He was so cuddly and affectionate that she knew he wasn't fond of sleeping alone. It was natural to assume that he wouldn't feel like eating either. But the rest of it...skipping work, not being social, the poetry...she was kind of horrified. It was no secret that Eddie cared deeply about his job and his bright, open personality is what had drawn her to him in the first place.

And don't get her started on the poetry. Knowing that she had been the cause for one his moody writing sprees almost made her feel sick. She was so disturbed that she almost missed the second half of Eddie's explanation.

"...so anyway, I tried to get them published, but Mara said that it would result in me getting forced into therapy," Eddie was waving his black notebook around.

"You used the _black _notebook?" Patricia almost wailed, her voice rising in pitch.

She knew the significance of that notebook. It was one of his oldest ones, reserved for the most personal and troubling issues. Knowing that she had been the cause of that kind of turmoil made her feel so guilty. Ironically, that's when the tears welled up.

Taking in her horrified expression, Eddie almost laughed. "You feel guilty," he observed. "God, no, Patricia. Don't. It's really fine. I'm the one that should feel bad and believe me, I do. This fight was my fault, not yours. I brought on my own misery, don't go making that face at me."

Seeing Eddie return to his classic kind, empathetic self triggered something inside Patricia. She didn't know why she was picking now of all times to get emotional when they had just about sorted everything out but...it was happening. She let out a small gasp as she tried to stifle the tears and failed miserably. She was on the verge of crying.

"No, don't cry!" Eddie exclaimed, alarmed. Yes, he was better with emotions than the average man but that doesn't mean he _liked _dealing with these things. And there was nothing that could undo him like Patricia's dears. "No, don't," he begged.

In the midst of this mini breakdown, Patricia vaguely remembered that she was upset that they weren't physically touching. During their entire conversation, Eddie hadn't once reached out, probably out of caution.

She missed it though. She stood up and closed the gap between herself and Eddie, standing in front of him, a hiccuping and sniffling mess. Something seemed to click inside Eddie's brain and he finally understood. He wordlessly stood and opened his arms.

Patricia practically fell into them and Eddie caught her soundly, holding her to his chest. She wasn't really crying because of their fight. She was just feeling vulnerable in general, overwhelmed.

Eddie seemed to understand that considering she let him sob into his chest, his arms wrapped firmly around her back. He gently stroked her hair and murmured a soothing "shh" into her ear, not allowing himself to get caught up in the awkward.

In fact, if he was being honest, this actually felt pretty good. Not awkward at all.

Not that he was happy the love of his life was crying, but somehow, it felt like some kind of balance had been restored.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," Patricia said croakily, feeling too emotional to be embarrassed. "Sorry for breaking down."

"Perfectly okay," Eddie buried his face into her hair, so relieved, so content. "I have to say though...I really like this shirt. You'll have to help me clean it."

And then Patricia allowed herself step back and look at Eddie. Her eyes were red and her face was wet, but she was giggling.

"I really missed you," she muttered, flinging her arms around his neck again. "Oh and...it's about time we did this."

Patricia stepped forward again and gave him _that _look. All the tension in the room melted as they locked lips. Patricia's hands tangled through Eddie's hair and he let out a noise of surprise before returning the kiss and drawing his arms around their waist.

When they finally parted, they were both breathless.

"Nice but...you know what they say," Eddie said casually.

Patricia saw the mischievous glint in his eye and couldn't help but grin. "No...what do they say?"

"That make up sex is the best kind of sex," he said, sounding almost helpful. "I think we should test that out."

"It can wait till tomorrow," Patricia replied. "There's something else we need to do first."

Eddie frowned. "No, I'm pretty sure sex is what's first on the agenda. What could possibly be more important?"

"How about sleeping, cuddle monster?"

Patricia's voice was teasing, but her eyes were concerned. She had noticed the dark circles under Eddie's eyes and they way he had been lethargically moving about. Usually, he was mister energy.

Eddie's eyes widened as he thought about all the nights he had spent on the couch simply because the bed felt too empty without Patricia.

Sex forgotten, he nodded. "That actually does sound kind of nice," he said. "And we can talk more too."

That's exactly what they did.

Patricia talked about her time spent at Amber's and how she had sneaked into the apartment one day to stuff some clothes into a bag.

"I had no idea," Eddie remarked, utterly astonished. "You came back? When?"

"When you were at work, duh," she responded. "You didn't think I was going to walk around in the same outfit for a month did you?"

"I didn't even _think _about it."

They chatted late into the night, simply catching up. After a while they stopped saying anything of true value. They just wanted to hear each other's voices. And during the entire time, Eddie had demanded that their hands remained link.

"...anyway, I promise try and break the whole "dumping beverages" habit. It's not a good way to handle my anger. What do you think?"

Eddie didn't respond.

"Eddie?"

Patricia half sat up, leaning on her elbow so that she could see.

Typical.

Eddie had surrendered to sleep and she didn't even know when it had happened. She had been talking for so long...she knew it was too good to be true for him not to answer.

She wasn't angry though.

It was actually kind of nice to have this time to reflect. She knew it was probably creepy to watch someone sleep but she did it anyway. She had been away from Eddie for too long.

She carded her fingers through her hair and smiled softly when he didn't even stir. Classic deep sleeper Eddie. She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest for a few minutes before she too grew tired.

It had been a long and emotionally trying day but it had been the best day she'd had in a while.

They had sorted things out. They were in it for the long haul. They weren't broken up. They were together and they were strong.

It was honestly so perfect.

Patricia scooted closer and draped an arm across Eddie's waist, resting her head on his shoulder. God, she had missed this.

But they were both so tired they slept through their alarms and neither of them woke up for work the next morning.

* * *

Fabian stormed into Eddie and Patricia's apartment, his face a picture of both rage and concern. "I swear to God, Nina. If he's gone and done something stupid to himself, I won't forgive him."

Nina gently rubbed her husband's shoulder. "Stay calm, I'm sure he's fine. What could he possibly have done?"

"Depends on what he's dramatic enough to do," Fabian grumbled. "I don't know...what if he got drunk and slept with someone else? Or..oh god even worse. What if he got so depressed that he...he.."

"Eddie is not dead, Fabian. How can you even say something like that?" Nina scolded.

"We didn't watch him closely enough," Fabian argued, completely in a panic. "Where is he? Eddie!"

"Found him!" Nina called a moment later. "Why didn't you check the bedroom first?" Fabian rushed into the room. Nina had a feeling he was about to shout so she put a finger to her lips and motioned towards the bed. "Shh."

"So the first guess was right," Fabian whispered, horrified. He saw his best friend and he other than that, a tuft of brown hair. Someone was sleeping half on top of him. Fabian pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Okay. Time to look up therapists. Eddie's going to go mad when he realizes what he's done and I - "

"Fabian!" Nina said quietly, grabbing his arm and pulling him forward. She took him close enough so he could see just _who _was in bed with Eddie.

"It's Patricia," Fabian said, stunned. "Oh. _Oh_ Oh good. Thank god. This is the best thing that's happened to me all morning."

They carefully stepped out of the room and shut the door behind them, not wanting to further invade their friends' privacy. Fabian grabbed one of Eddie's random notepads and scribbled a quick note that stated they had been in to check on him before slapping it onto the fridge with a magnet, where it was sure to be seen.

"He gave me a heart attack," Fabian complained when they were outside the apartment. "Stupid friend."

"I don't recall Eddie asking you to look after him," Nina teased.

"It's what friends do," Fabian complained. "He'd do it for me."

"I know he would." Nina gently pressed a soft kiss to Fabian's mouth. "You were so cute back there. All worried and frantic."

"I retract my earlier statement," Fabian said solemnly, touching his lips with a goofy smile. "_This _is the best thing that's happened to me all morning."

Nina beamed and the couple parted ways at the next intersection. Having checked on their friends, it was time to go back to work.

But both Nina and Fabian returned to their jobs with bright smiles and good spirits. From what they had seen, they were pretty sure that Eddie and Patricia were going to be just fine.

* * *

**A/N:**

Yay everything is ok again! I hope this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations. I know people were waiting for them to make up so...here it is! Next chapter has some fun stuff in it. If you recall, I said they take their UK trip in chapter 13 and well...that's what's next :)


	12. Chapter 13

**A/N:**

I've been meaning to write this but time tends to slip right past me. Between exams and finalizing summer plans I've been a little overwhelmed. But the good news is I'm done with school next week! My summer is going to be filled with traveling and working but I'll be making time for writing too so hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more of me.

In addition, I'd like to thank you guys. I'm not sure if you've noticed but we're at chapter 13 of TH. This is significant because during DT chapter 13 was towards the end of the story, but in TH it's smack in the middle. We still have a good 6-8 chapters left but we've exceeded the amount of reviews on DT which is kind of mind boggling.

It's truly incredible. So thanks for the 250+ lovely, sweet, amazing comments! I read every single review that comes my way and I shamelessly admit that I look forward to the comments of particular readers that I've sort of gotten to know over time. You all mean the world to me :)

This chapter takes place during Thanksgiving and then switches to mid December.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Both Eddie and Patricia had made an unspoken agreement to be on their best behavior. Despite having made up, the two of them were treading carefully, afraid of accidentally starting another argument. The fight had shaken the couple badly, and neither one of them had managed to completely bounce back to normal. In fact, Patricia hadn't once lost her temper since the makeup and Eddie had been just as careful with his words as well. It was good that they were both trying to change for the better, but things were kind of awkward since they were overdoing the whole be polite thing.

"Pass the popcorn?" Eddie requested. "Please."

He and Patricia were in the midst of watching a Doctor Who episode. Last week, Patricia had asked him who his favorite doctor was and he had suspiciously rattled off the name of his physician. That's when she had laughed and decided to introduce him to the show. She figured they'd only watch a couple episodes just to broaden Eddie's horizons, but he had taken a strong liking to the show and they were now about halfway through the first season.

Patricia accidentally handed him the bags of chips instead of the popcorn and that's when it happened.

"These are the chips not the popcorn," Eddie informed her with amusement. "God, can't you do anything right?"

Eddie froze and swore under his breath. He hadn't made a joke at Patricia's expense in a week for a reason and with one small comment he had just gone and blown all his handwork. He studied Patricia intently, waiting to see what she would say. The wheels were already turning though. He was formulating an apology inside his mind.

To her credit, Patricia hadn't noticed the comment at all. She'd cracked a distracted smile and passed him the right snack before refocusing on the episode. They were at the point in their lives where they could actually watch what was on the television instead of mindlessly tossing something into the DVD player and making out on the couch. (Well that sometimes still happened but whatever.) Finally feeling Eddie's intense gaze, she looked up.

His eyes were wide and remorseful.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked. Eddie continued to stare at her. "Are you holding your breath?" Patricia slapped his back, concerned. "Breathe!"

He obediently inhaled and eyed her carefully. "So you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" Patricia looked aghast. "You're acting weird. I thought you were choking," she complained as she reached out to feel his forehead.

"I'm not sick!"

"Well then what's wr - _oh," _Patricia exhaled in understanding. Eddie was afraid he had offended her. If it wasn't so sweet, it would be comical. "That was hardly an insult, you oversensitive clown," she said fondly. "Okay, this can't continue. We've got to stop this. We've been treading on thin ice for too long."_  
_

"Tell me about it," Eddie whined, relieved that his "insult" had gone unnoticed. "I'm always worried about hurting you feelings now. I'm constantly thinking about what I can say and what I can't."

"Me too!" Patricia exclaimed. "Looks like we took it too far, huh? Let's just forget about the whole thing. For real this time. We're supposed to be comfortable with each other."

Eddie flopped back onto the couch and nodded in agreement. "Thank god, because I've been holding back. You were so annoying this morning, blasting your hairdryer while I was on the phone. Manners, Patricia. You should learn them some time."

"It was stupid when you almost put a metal fork in the microwave with your food," Patricia shot back. "Common sense, Eddie. Ever heard of it?"

"You're so full of yourself, thinking you're so cool just because you're a lawyer," Eddie said gleefully.

His words held no malice. He was grinning from ear to ear, pleased to finally let go and say whatever came to mind without worrying about the consequences. He knew she wouldn't care.

"You're a dramatic writer who thinks his feminine poetry is actually worth reading."

"Hey!" Eddie protested.

Patricia winced. "Too far?"

"Nah, just kidding," he winked mischievously and Patricia threw bits of popcorn into his hair as revenge for worrying her.

It looked like they were finally back on track and both of them were relieved.

* * *

In the end, the couple ended up going to Fabian and Nina's for Thanksgiving. This is the plan they had went with because Eddie's mother had called and informed him she was going to the family celebration at her sister's place. She had invited Eddie and Patricia to come too but the last thing Eddie wanted was to hang out with all of his cousins at once and have them suddenly be interested in keeping in touch just because his name was moderately well known now because of the best-seller book.

Patricia had also been content with hanging out with their friends. She had expressed genuine interest in meeting Eddie's mother but had also said she'd prefer to meet her alone and not when she was with all of Eddie's other relatives. She had made this request so shyly, that affection had bubbled in Eddie's chest, reminding him of the quiet, intensely private girl he had once known. Things were so different now, and for the better.

Still, Eddie had sulked a little bit, feeling guilty about the whole thing.

"It's Thanksgiving!" Patricia tossed Eddie's favorite sweater in his face. "Cheer up, why the long face? I'm no American but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to love this holiday or something."

"God, you're so British," Eddie grinned. "It's hot. You know, they say girls are always after going guys with British accents but the reverse is true too. If we were in college, everyone would be _so _jealous of me."

Patricia smiled back in spite of herself. "You mean you're only with me for my accent?"

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Eddie replied solemnly, his twitching lips giving away his hidden amusement.

"Nice attempt at changing the subject but I want to know what's wrong."

"Nothing," Eddie said quickly, grabbing his coat and scarf from the hallway closet. "I'm just...it's stupid, don't you think? We nearly broke up over our Thanksgiving plans and I fought so hard for something that's not even happening. I gave you so much flake for saying yes to Fabian and Nina and I said all this stuff about family and my mom, but look at me now. She has other plans that I don't want to be a part of. I don't know. I don't think I make sense."

"You usually don't," Patricia ruffled his hair. (It was one of her favorite things to do. She couldn't help it.) "But this time I actually do know what you're talking about. Don't worry about it though. Your mom having plans isn't your fault, your original sentiment was pure."

Eddie wrinkled his nose distastefully.

"Now what?" Patricia asked with impatience.

"Have you ever heard us speak? It's like...when did we grow up? We're so _eloquent."_

"The writer is complaining about eloquent. Dear god, there's no pleasing this weasel," Patricia muttered to herself. "As for growing up...I'm not sure you have."

"Weasel," Eddie said cheerfully. "Much better. And hey, no insults! We're supposed to be grateful for one and another."

Patricia bit back another retort and smiled sweetly instead. "Right. Come along, my American. We've got a parade to go to."

* * *

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was something to see. It was one of the few times of the year that made New York City even more crowded than a regular day, with police officers posted at every block and thousands and thousands of people blocking the street. It's like the entire city came to a standstill; no one was rushing. If you weren't interested in the parade, then you stayed inside because you _knew _how crowded the area would be.

Being a native New Yorker, Eddie had surprisingly not been to the parade in a few years. He tended to take it for granted.

"I can't believe you haven't done this since college!" Patricia had to scream to be heard.

People were talking, music was blasting from the floats, and she could hear the marching band from around the corner. The parade was a huge mix of loud noises, creative floats, and waving people. It was hard to describe but she swore it was one of the most incredible things she'd ever seen. For all her mocking of the American holiday, she had attended the parade ever since she got to New York.

"I used to go when I was a kid but after that, I stopped. Except for that one time in college."

Patricia nodded to acknowledge she had heard him and jammed her gloved hands in her pockets and shivered. Winter had crept up on the city. It wasn't even December yet, but the air was cold and the wind was harsh. She was bundled up with her scarf, coat, and earmuffs but it was still so freezing.

"I thought Brits were trained to handle this kind of weather," Eddie wrapped an arm around her shoulders and dragged her to his side, holding her tight.

"Oh, shut up," Patricia grumbled halfheartedly, too focused on appreciating the floats to be properly annoyed.

To their right, Fabian and Nina were in a similar position. Fabian was somehow managing to hold his cup of coffee and wife at the same time. The two had been up all night cooking and the four of them had met up early in the morning to ensure a good spot to see the parade. Both of them were exhausted but it was their first Thanksgiving as a married couple and the exhaustion was all a part of the fun.

Fabian met Eddie's gaze over the top of Nina's head and smiled warmly. They didn't speak. They didn't have to.

It's funny but they were genuinely grateful this year and they both knew it. It was more than eating good food and getting a day off work. Fabian had found Nina and Eddie had found Patricia. Not to mention the release of his book, the job promotion, and all the other wonderful things. The boys were blessed and were running on eight years of a strong friendship.

All in all, life was just really damn good.

* * *

"I didn't know you could cook, Fabian," Eddie accused, as he passed the bowl of mashed potatoes to Nina. "If I had, I would made you my personal chef in college."

"That's exactly why I didn't mention it," Fabian said dryly, his tone laced mirth.

Everyone laughed and continued eating. Fabian and Nina had truly outdone themselves, making a wide array of side dishes in addition to the turkey. None of them were particularly religious but Nina had said grace anyway because it was something her gram had done when she was growing up. Patricia didn't comment on it because she knew it must have been hard, having no family. As cheerful as Nina was, the fact remained that she was an orphan and her grandma had died a few years ago.

Patricia couldn't imagine not having her family. They drove her insane and she knew they didn't really understand her, but she loved them dearly, despite all of that. She had called them earlier to wish them and they had been confused because they didn't celebrate Thanksgiving.

"I'm just saying I appreciate you is all," Patricia had huffed. "Why do I bother? Gotta go, mom. Love you."

Eddie had sniggered into his coffee but had the wisdom not to tease her too much. "I'm feelin' the love, babe," he said.

"If you value your life, you won't be calling me that again," Patricia had said primly.

If she was being honest, this might be one of her favorite holidays. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy in a way different way from Christmas. It was kinda odd but she wasn't fighting it. She couldn't remember being this happy.

After dinner, they moved to the living room and Fabian brought out a slew of board games.

"We're getting old," Nina giggled. There was nothing to laugh about but they were all a little tipsy from the wine and sleepy from the food.

"Tell me about it," Eddie agreed.

"It's kind of getting late..." Patricia hesitantly eyed the stack of games.

"Not wanting to play games is a poor excuse to leave," Fabian chuckled. "You're right about it being late though. Why don't you crash here? I don't want my best friends to get mugged trying to make their way back home."

Feeling touched at being referred to as someone's best friend, Patricia nodded dumbly. Eddie didn't fight it either. "Sleepovers," he commented. "I'm feeling young again."

Nina beamed. "Great, then it's settled. Monopoly first?"

"Please, no," Patricia groaned. "That game never ends. Pick a different one. Preferably one I'll win."

"She's a keeper," Fabian said in response, snickering at Patricia's competitive streak. "Eddie, have I told you that? Keep this one. I approve."

"I plan to."

The rest of the night passed playing stupid board games and watching Christmas movies a month early. By the time they had finished, it was so late, that no one had the strength to move. Nina had fallen asleep first and Fabian had refused to move her.

"I'm sleepy," he argued. "Besides, I'm weak. If I drop her she'll want a divorce. Leave her on the couch, it's fine. We'll fit."

He had had the foresight to realize they wouldn't want to move and had set up a bunch of sheets and blankets on the floor for Eddie and Patricia. Once they had stumbled to their respective makeshift beds, they all immediately fell asleep, after the most peaceful and most enjoyable Thanksgiving of their lives.

* * *

The downside to traveling for the holidays was that shopping had to be done well ahead of time. Patricia _hated _shopping but she had to buy presents for her family, Eddie, and Nina and Fabian. She was debating phoning a few old high school friends. If she did, she'd have to buy things for them too.

December was a busy month.

Patricia was constantly out of the house, busy with work during the day and shopping in the evening. Thankfully, Eddie was just as swamped. He didn't have the time to sit around and pine for her, busy with his own stuff. He had taken on extra hours in order to make up for the time he'd be missing while they traveled. Patricia had done the same.

"Dinner?" Patricia asked him one night. She really didn't want to cook but she figured it was their job to make sure each other was fed.

"Grabbed a slice of pizza on the way home," Eddie briefly looked up to address her before growling at his computer screen, frustrated with an article.

"Me too," she admitted sheepishly. "I was just making sure you didn't starve."

"Thanks," Eddie smiled softly. "At least we're saving money. When was the last time we went grocery shopping? Pizza is cheap. We should just live on it."

"...And that's when I know you've been at it for too long," Patricia replied. "Go to bed."

He didn't protest, following her to the bedroom. Once he was there though, he pulled out one of his numerous notebooks.

"That one is red," Patricia is observed. "I haven't seen that one! What does it mean?"

"It's just a notebook," Eddie said, startled. "The color doesn't mean anything."

"You've color coded your work whether you realize it or not," Patricia argued. "Black is your personal poetry, blue is your regular poetry, green are your short stories, yellow are your longer works in progress, orange is - "

"Okay, okay," Eddie interrupted, the tips of his ears turning red. "You may have a point. Hmm. I can't believe I actually do that."

"I can't believe you didn't know," Patricia snorted.

"I guess red is...my lists. I've got a ton of lists in here. I'm currently working on my Christmas one. What do I buy your family? You have to tell me more about them. I'm actually really nervous."

"It'll be fine," Patricia soothed.

* * *

"It will most certainly not be fine," Eddie hissed.

A week had passed and the big day had come. They were flying out of JFK straight into Heathrow where Patricia's parents would pick them up. Patricia had spent time telling Eddie little tidbits about her family in her limited free time but it wasn't enough.

Eddie was freaking out.

"Former military officer," he muttered faintly, tugging at his collar. "Oh my god, he probably owns a gun. I'm a dead man."

Patricia had _told _him to wear something comfortable for the long flight but Eddie had insisted on looking nice for when they met her parents at the airport. He was dressed in black slacks and a dress shirt, his sports blazer carefully folded in the overhead luggage compartment. Patricia, on the other hand, was dressed in a pair leggings and a oversized sweatshirt from college. She could care less.

"He won't kill you," she said. "I won't let him."

"You won't let him," he repeated. "How reassuring."

Patricia hummed in contentment and pulled out her latest book. The thing about dating a writer was that you ended up reading a lot. She didn't have to but Eddie was always quoting things and rambling about certain books and every once in a while, she wanted to know what he was talking about. She had gotten into the habit of going to him for book recommendations. Turns out reading wasn't _so _bad.

She was distracted by the sound of Eddie taking loud, deep breaths.

"Oh, are you afraid of flying?" she lifted the armrest between them and stroked his arm, concerned. "You should have told me. Are you going to have a panic attack or something?"

"Not afraid of planes," Eddie muttered. "I'm afraid if your _father."_

"Oh, that," Patricia waved her hand dismissively and returned to her book.

"It's too bad I'm not afraid of flying, though," Eddie said thoughtfully. "You'd cuddle me."

Patricia closed her book with a soft smile. "You don't have to be afraid and there doesn't need to be something wrong in order to get a hug from me."

"Actually, yeah, usually that's how it works," Eddie said. Patricia opened her arms pointedly and who was he to argue? He slumped into her embrace and wrapped is arms around her waist in order to maintain his position. "What's your secret ulterior motive?" His voice was muffled since his face was pressed into the soft fabric of her sweatshirt.

"I figure if we snuggle, you'll fall asleep and stop rambling about my parents," she shrugged honestly.

"Ah," Eddie said. "No such things as free cuddles from you. I knew it was too good to be true."

He didn't move and sure enough, Patricia had predicted the outcome correctly. Eddie had fallen asleep almost immediately and hadn't woken up for the entire duration of the flight. At one point, Patricia had carefully taken his pulse. She knew she was being dumb but it was unusual for him to sleep _so _long, uninterrupted. If he died of fear or something, she'd bring him back to life only to kill him herself.

But he really was just asleep, exhausted from the last minute packing and all the work. The last couple of weeks were catching up with him and Patricia didn't have the heart to wake him and have him move. Her arm was kind of sore but she let him sleep on. She knew she should have gotten some rest too, but the movie selection was too good to pass up.

When the plane entered descent for landing, Patricia reluctantly shook Eddie awake. "Time to go," she whispered.

"I slept the whole time?" Eddie jolted awake, surprisingly alert after sleeping like the dead. "Oh, good. I normally get so bored on planes."

"That's exactly why I put you down for a nap," Patricia teased.

Eddie smiled wearily, but jumped into action when they had officially landed. He unloaded their carry on luggage and they thankfully whizzed through immigration and the baggage claim. Patricia had wanted to go meet her parents right away but Eddie had made her stop so he could go to the rest room and fix his hair and wrinkled clothes. She rolled her eyes at him but didn't argue because she knew it was important to him.

When they finally stepped outside to the area where everyone was waiting, it was late evening in London. Patricia took Eddie's hand in hers and took a deep breath.

"Ready for this?"

_"No."_

"Wrong answer," Patricia said cheerfully, searching for her parents.

"Oh my god," Eddie muttered. "_Oh my god. _I feel like I'm about to be sick. What is this dumb feeling? I think I'm dying. Patricia, I swear. I'm dying."

She raised an eyebrow. "What feeling, being desperately anxious? When was the last time you were this nervous, your elementary school play? You're not dying, Eddie. Cut it out."

He pouted and clung to her hand tighter.

"Oh, I see them!" Patricia exclaimed. "Mom, Dad! We're over here!"

Eddie took a deep breath and willed himself not to fall part.

* * *

**A/N:**

I'm used to shorter chapters and that was a bit of a long one! Hopefully it made up for taking over a week to update though.

So, we're finally in London! Time to spend time with Patricia's parents. I'm kind of struggling with this because we've never seen Patricia's parents on the show so I'm not exactly sure how to characterize them. Well, of course, I've already given her mom the overbearing, misguided personality, but I haven't really considered her dad. Eddie's under the impressions he's a hardcore, strict military man but we'll see if I decide to make that true or not! I'm playing around with it.

Hope you liked this :)


	13. Chapter 14

**A/N:**

This installment was kind of tough to write for some reason but that might just be because it's difficult to write about Christmas in the summertime. The timeline is a tad awkward when compared to real life. Haha oh well - hope it's still enjoyable! I've been receiving less comments on this and NADM so it looks like it's time to step up my game.

OH and the names of Patricia's parents are random. I just stuck to the ones I made up in DT (which only came up once or twice) - but they're not significant or have a deeper reasoning.

This chapter takes place during the week of Christmas but not the actual 25th.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Although Patricia had spent a great deal of timing ranting about her _mother, _Eddie was more worried about meeting her father. He had to go and fall in love with a girl whose father had a military background. Of course he did. When had his life ever been simple?

He truly couldn't remember the last time he had been this anxious. Patricia was cracking jokes about his nerves, but Eddie truly was willing himself not to throw up. His stomach was flip-flopping in an unpleasant way that just wasn't fair. When he finally spotted the couple Patricia was waving at, Eddie straightened to his full height and smoothed his shirt to the best of his ability, once again grateful he had opted to dress nicely for the flight.

Patricia's dad was taller than Eddie by a couple inches but not tall enough to tower over him. He was impeccably fit but had a standard black coat thrown over a faded pair of jeans. His hair was graying, but his eyes were the same piercing greenish gray as his daughter's. Currently, they were shining brightly, happy to see her. All in all, he was just an ordinary man, with a strong resemblance to Patricia.

Patricia's mother had reddish chestnut hair just like she did. Unlike her husband though, her smile wasn't as sincere. She looked troubled about Eddie being there and that made him nervous.

The knot in his stomach tightened as the awful thought occurred to him. Maybe he had been worrying about the wrong parent the whole time. Maybe Patricia had been right about her mother being the threatening parent.

Trying to stay calm, Eddie regained his composure and summoned his usual charm. If he was going to marry Patricia (which he most certainly was), he couldn't be afraid of her parents. That simply wouldn't do.

"Patty!" Mr. Williamson called, delighted. He strode over quickly, leaving his wife trailing behind. He wrapped Patricia in a huge hug. "It's so good to see you, sweetheart!"

Mr. Williamson had a great big booming voice. Eddie tried not to let that intimidate him and focused on the odd sounding nickname instead. He had never once his girlfriend _Patty._

"Dad, hi," she returned the hug briefly and pulled apart before gesturing towards Eddie. "This is - "

"Edison Sweet," Mr. Williamson interjected. "I know the name of your fiancé, I pay attention when you call. That and I had a buddy do a background check."

Eddie chuckled nervously, sticking out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Williamson. I wish we could have meet sooner."

"Same here, buddy," Mr. Williamson replied. "And try not to look so nervous. I didn't _really _do a background check. If that's what's got you all worked up."

"I've got nothing to hide, sir," Eddie said quickly, hoping he sounded polite. "I'm just a little..." he shrugged, figuring honesty was the best way to go. "Well I'm sure you were in my position once. It's nerve-wracking."

"That it is," Mr. Williamson agreed, appraising Eddie with a gaze so intense it took physical effort to not step behind Patricia and hide. Just then, Mr. Williamson broke into a broad smile. "As I'm sure you realize, I have a lot of questions for you, but it really _is_ great to meet you. I won't torture you any longer. Call me Samuel, Eddie."

Eddie smiled sincerely for the first time all evening. "Thanks si - I mean...thanks Samuel," he said cautiously.

"Sam, your walk is more like a run. You didn't wait for me!"

"Sorry, Elizabeth."

"Mom!" Patricia hugged her slightly out of breath mother and beamed. Chances are she was going to fight with her mom within the next 24 hours but the initial greetings were always pleasant.

"Oh, I've missed you," Mrs. Willaimson sprinkled Patricia's face with light kisses. "But step aside. Let's take a look at him."

Eddie took that has his queue. "Hi Mrs. Williamson, it's nice to - "

"Oh! The picture doesn't do him any justice! Well done, Patricia," Mrs. Williamson said with glee.

_"Mom."_

"Um, thanks," Eddie said.

He shook her hand and introductions were made. The four of them made their way to parking lot where Patricia's parents asked the standard traveling questions. Eddie did his best to focus and he knew had no business being sleepy after resting the entire flight, but suddenly he felt so tired. Meeting his fiancé's parents had drained him.

"How was the flight?" Mr. Williamson asked.

"Good, thanks. Eddie over here slept the entire time." Patricia replied. "Oh, it's good to be back!" She grinned at the cars on the left side of the road, immersed in taking in the city around her.

Eddie too was glad to be here. His father stayed outside of the city and he hadn't visited in a couple years, so it had been a while since he'd seen London. Some of his greatest childhood memories were linked to this city.

"So, Eddie," Mrs. Williamson said. "Both me and Samuel over here read your book."

"Oh?" Eddie asked, intrigued. Of all the things he had stressed about, this was something he'd forgotten. It should have occurred to him that Patricia's parents would have read his published work. In retrospect, it made sense. He offered them a shy, weak grin. "So what's the verdict? I'm good with criticism so feel free."

"I don't normally read," Mr. Williamson admitted. "And when I do it's usually not fiction. When I picked it up I was afraid it would be an average romance and quite frankly, that kind of worried me. Can't say there's a lot of male romance novelists out there. But that wasn't what your book was at all. It was much more than that. It tackled life in general, the whole coming of age thing. Quite deep."

"Yes, exactly," Eddie looked pleased. "Wow, thanks so much."

All of his nerves had temporarily faded away and he was glowing in Samuel's praise. He helped him load the car with the silly smile still stuck in place.

"I thought you were ready for criticism," Mr. Williamson chuckled.

The smile faded into an earnest expression. "I could have handled it, sir," Eddie said. "But it means a lot that my future in-laws like my work. The opinions of the people I care about tend to matter more than the average reader."

Samuel observed Eddie speak. The young man was slowly beginning to open up, and when he spoke more than five words at a time, his intelligence and passion shined through. Samuel knew that Elizabeth was nervous about the wedding and Patricia's sudden interest in a serious relationship, but he couldn't help but think that maybe his little girl knew what she was doing.

Elizabeth intended to dissuade Patricia from the wedding, or at least postpone it, something Samuel was dreading. He knew the whole affair would be dramatic. His wife was having difficulties accepting the fact that Patricia had gone and found a life for herself away from home. But then again, he couldn't blame Patricia for doing so. Yes, it seemed odd that Patricia had never once mentioned a boyfriend during her undergrad or the majority of law school and that the one time she had, it was to announce her marriage. It was...unexpected. But actually meeting Eddie made Samuel's suspicions fade a bit.

He and Elizabeth were happy for Patricia but they were concerned. They couldn't help but feel she wasn't ready for this huge step. But Samuel was surprised how quickly his tune had changed. He had fully intended to give Eddie a chance from the start since he wasn't as extreme as Elizabeth. But he _hadn't_ expected the young man to click with him so quickly. They hadn't even talked much so Samuel knew he had to find out more but still...he couldn't help but innately trust the guy. So therefore, he was going to have to figure out a way to discourage Elizabeth from aggravating Patricia and questioning her life choices.

Samuel dispelled these troubling thoughts and focused on getting his family home. Thankfully, the ride wasn't as awkward as he had expected it to be. Eddie bravely answered Elizabeth's millions of questions, managing to appear mostly unfazed. Samuel knew Elizabeth wouldn't have noticed her future son-in-law's anxiety, but he certainly had, mainly because Eddie himself had pointed it out. For claiming to be worried, Eddie was managing just fine. But then again, one glance in the rearview mirror and Samuel could see that his daughter was subtly rubbing Eddie's hand and sitting close.

He expected to feel outraged or protective at seeing his baby be so intimate with someone else, but to his surprise, he couldn't bring himself to mind all that much. Patricia had been independent from the start and he knew he didn't have the right to question her judgement.

He wondered if he would be able to convince Elizabeth to feel the same.

* * *

"You did good," Patricia soothed, once she and Eddie had excused themselves to the guest bedroom.

Eddie fell face first onto the bed and moaned something unintelligible.

"What was that?" Patricia asked.

"I _said, _it's you did _well."_

"You're only a grammar freak when you're cranky," Patricia observed. "Why are you cranky?"

"I'm not," Eddie protested, lifting his face from the pillow. "I'm just...wait till you meet my parents! You'll be worried too."

"I've already met your dad," Patricia pointed out cheekily. "We've known each other for ages."

Eddie looked displeased but grudgingly acknowledged that it was true. "So now what happens?"

Patricia shrugged. "We're here to relax, right? You'll get to know my parents and hang out around London. Nothing too fancy."

Eddie nodded swiftly and changed into clothes for bed. He rolled onto his side, away from Patricia. Usually, he he slept on his back and held her to his chest. Or he would spoon her or at the very least, sleep facing her.

This was a new arrangement and Patricia wasn't sure she liked it. She made fun of Eddie's cuddling obsession but she had come to love it almost as much as he did and she wasn't used to not being held by him. She flicked the back of his head to express her displeasure.

"What's up with you? Why are you so far away?"

"Because I feel like it's weird to share a bed underneath your parents roof," he said, as though it made perfect sense. "I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I can't explain it."

"That's the stupidest thing I've heard," Patricia decided.

"Oh." Eddie looked up at her, his expression one of insecurity, exhaustion, and confusion. "Really?"

She knew she should feel bad for him considering he'd had a big day, but really, he was just too adorable. "Really," she confirmed with a grin. "You're an idiot."

She tugged him closer and he relented almost immediately.

They slept.

* * *

The vacation was going well. The Williamsons both worked so that left Patricia and Eddie free to explore London during the day. They did the classic sightseeing, visiting the London Tower, British Museum, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, etc. It was nothing they hadn't see before but it was still so incredible.

It was kind of fun to act like tourists and take pictures and purchase souvenirs. Technically, Patricia had grown up there but even she indulged Eddie in the touristic behavior. It was the most fun they'd had in ages.

In the evenings, the four of them had dinner together in order to spend time together. Sometimes they all went out for walks or watched a movie but no matter what, it was always domestically pleasant. Patricia seemed pleased with her parents' efforts to bond with her and Eddie and she didn't complain much. Elizabeth still kind of frightened Eddie, but he didn't let it show. He had warmed up to Samuel though and wasn't anxious around him anymore.

Until one evening he held Eddie back after one of their walks.

"You guys coming inside?" Patricia asked.

"We'll catch up in a minute," Samuel said. Eddie looked confused but stayed beside his future father-in-law and waved at Patricia and Elizabeth. "I thought it's about time we had one of those serious chats."

"The father-in-law vs son-in-law chats?"

"Exactly," Samuel chuckled. "I confess I don't know how to go about these. I think I'm supposed to threaten you."

"Quite frankly, sir, I'm surprised you haven't already," Eddie admitted. "The military history was a little intimidating."

"Samuel," he reminded him gently. "And somehow, I don't think I need to verbalize it. I get the feeling you know what happens if you hurt my daughter."

"I do," Eddie swallowed. Feeling brave, he continued. "But just to set the record straight, she hurts me far more," he joked.

Samuel grinned at this. "I can't say I'm surprised." Sobering, he cleared his throat. "You know...Liz and I were surprised when she called and let us know that she was engaged. She hadn't even mentioned being in a relationship."

"We got engaged after knowing each other for a full year. We dated each other about nine months out of that year," Eddie said. "I admit for some couples one year isn't a lot of time but I've seen relationships progress faster."

"Right, but, you know Patricia is a little...different. Socially."

Eddie shrugged. "With all due respect, Samuel, I don't think she is. She was hard to get to know but it was worth it. Beneath the shyness there's a fierce personality that I really love. Of course she's different, but in the best way possible. It's why I love her."

Samuel looked at him a little oddly. "Wow, kiddo. You really are a writer, all free with your feelings, tossing around the word love."

"Not tossing. It's true."

Eddie spoke so earnestly and with such a sincere expression that Samuel had to smile.

"I think this conversation is over, it's clear that you're a fine young man. No threats will be needed."

"Well, I'm relieved," Eddie grinned.

The two of them made their way out of the cold and back to the house. Patricia shot Eddie a curious look but he shrugged mysteriously and hung up his coat before joining her in the living room.

"What was that all about?" Patricia asked suspiciously. "What did my dad want?"

"None of your business," Eddie swatted Patricia's hand away and reached for the remote.

"No, I'm watching..." Patricia paused and took a look at the television. "...that Spanish soap opera!"

"Oh, shut up," Eddie said. "You are not, you had to check to see what was on! I wanna check the news, give me the remote."

"No."

Patricia petulantly pulled away, holding the remote out of Eddie's reach.

"Patricia, give me the remote!"

"No."

"Give me the remote!" Eddie said more insistently.

"NO."

Eddie tackled Patricia to the ground and they ended up in a tangled heap of limbs, giggling and breathless. Once they had adjusted themselves, they remained on the floor, sitting close, heads bowed in simple conversation.

Samuel saw his little girl smiling and laughing like she never had before. It was an amazing sight to see.

Elizabeth also saw her little girl acting like she never had before but it almost made her upset. Patricia had never smiled like that with _her _and that bothered her greatly. She couldn't understand.

Seeing his wife's frown, Samuel sighed.

He sensed trouble stirring.

* * *

**A/N:**

I'm not quite sure what just happened. A lot of this ended up being from Patricia's father's point of view and that wasn't intentional but it just happened. And then I didn't put everything into this chapter that I was supposed to so it became a bit of a filler so I don't even know what to say! I guess final exams are driving me insane.


	14. Chapter 15

**A/N:**

Hooray for cranking out the installments! I've been speeding things up in terms of releasing new chapters so that's good. I think? I'm sure no one has a problem with me finally updating more than once every two weeks. Technically, this fic was supposed to be complete by April so I've been trying to update fast to kind of make up for it.

I'm so glad people liked Samuel. It's not like Elizabeth is evil or wants Patricia to be miserable, but if you recall, she and Patricia had a tough relationship based on the explanation I gave in DT. Even more so than Samuel and Patricia because he was always so busy with military service. The idea is that Patricia has been for the most part distant with her family having attended boarding school and then going abroad. I think most of you are aware of this but this is just some quick background info for people who never read DT.

This chapter takes place during Christmas.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Elizabeth was planning a Christmas dinner party that was set to take place the 23rd. Patricia thought this was odd considering Christmas was the 25th and she didn't hesitate to say as much.

"News flash, mom," Patricia said, sounding bored. "Christmas is the 25th."

"But that's strictly family time," Elizabeth explained. "The 23rd is close enough."

"You're inviting family, aren't you? I don't get what you mean."

"And also some friends from the office. But when I said family I meant just the four us!" Casting a quick glance at Eddie, Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Five of us I mean."

Patricia glared daggers at her mother but Eddie had the tact not to comment. In fact, he didn't look up from his book, deciding it was best to pretend that he hadn't heard the exchange. (Even though the dining room where he was sitting was right next to the kitchen where Patricia and Elizabeth were talking.)

"Speaking of planning things though...let's talk about the wedding! I'm assuming you two have started planning it. I'm so behind. I want to help so tell me _everything._"

Just then Samuel strode through the front door. "Hello ladies and Eddie," he said with an easy smile. "What are we talking about?"

"Wedding planning!" Elizabeth replied with excitement. "Come join us. You too, Eddie."

He obediently shut his book and joined them in the kitchen, trying to ignore the fact that Elizabeth had just _invited _him to the planning of his own wedding as though she was doing him some kind of favor. Patricia grabbed his hand underneath the kitchen island and he flashed her a weak grin, knowing she too had picked up on her mother's borderline rude behavior.

"So what will the venue be? London is so big in that regard. I don't even know where to begin and - "

"Actually, the wedding will be held in New York," Patricia corrected with a huge sigh. This conversation could go very wrong _very _quickly if she wasn't careful.

"I think that sounds great," Samuel volunteered, also sensing the danger.

"Oh. Was this Eddie's idea?" Elizabeth's tone was one of distaste.

"Uh it was mutual," Eddie said. He was dreading this conversation more and more with each passing second.

"And _Eddie _is in the room, you know," Patricia snapped. "You could try addressing him instead of referring to him as though he's not even here."

Elizabeth defensively held up her hands. "Let's stay calm," she said in that condescending tone that made Patricia's blood boil. "Honestly, sweetheart, I've been meaning to tell you. Venue aside, maybe things are just progressing too fast and - "

"Things aren't progressing too fast," Patricia stubbornly interrupted. "We have a date set. October 12th."

"Yes but that's awfully soon in my opinion," Elizabeth. "It's not that Eddie isn't a great catch. Eddie, you're wonderful, dear. I just..."

Eddie looked horrified and he had gone kind of pale. Patricia looked like she was an inch away from stabbing her mother with the kitchen knife she'd been using to cut potatoes.

"Best I take that." Samuel sighed and removed the knife out of his daughter's hands. He sank heavily onto one of the stools beside the island and groaned. "I need a drink."

"Me too," Eddie muttered almost inaudibly.

But Samuel heard him. "Well then." He rose to his feet. "This conversation seems like something the two of you should be having alone. Eddie and I are going to go for a walk and swing by a pub or something."

Eddie was looking at Patricia's father as though he was his hero. "Sounds fantastic," he said gratefully.

Patricia tried to reach for Eddie and rub his arm but he had already darted out of the room. She could hear the sound of him digging through the hall closet for his coat. Not for the first time on this trip, she silently thanked her dad for his surprisingly incredible performance with her boyfriend. Eddie had just been beginning to relax and the chances of him readjusting were slim.

She frowned. This was all her mother's fault. "What's wrong with you?" she demanded.

Elizabeth looked wounded. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean," she sniffed. "I was just expressing my opinion. You haven't known him for all that long."

"I've known him long enough," Patricia argued through gritted teeth. "And even if you're concerned, couldn't you have just confronted me in private? You're being so _rude_. You have to have noticed that."

"I didn't realize you would put your boyfriend ahead of your family," Elizabeth said disapprovingly.

Patricia looked positively murderous. "That doesn't even make sense!" she exclaimed. "And it's invalid anyway, because he's not just my boyfriend, he's the man I'm going to marry. He's my family _too. _I can't even believe I have to say this. What, did you drag us all the way here just to try and convince me to drop the wedding? You said you wanted to meet him! You - "

"Oh god," Patricia paused. "You _did. _That's exactly what you were trying to do."

Elizabeth bit her lip, looking guilty. "I think you're being a little dramatic," she said without conviction.

"Not this time, no," Patricia hissed. "Did you _really _think we'd break up because you told us too? Let me tell you something, we almost did, and it was the worst few weeks of my life. I won't be letting it happen again, with out without your interference."

Completely missing the point, Elizabeth perked up. "See? You two almost broke up. Had you guys been married that could have been a divorce. You're clearly not ready for such a big commitment. This is a mistake."

"I'm ready," Patricia insisted, vaguely disturbed by her mother's comment. Eddie had basically said the same thing although the context had been different. "All couples fight. You can't protect me from that. Why are you even bothering anyway? It's a little late to start caring."

"I care! I've always cared!"

Patricia crossed her arms and stared her skeptically. Seeing Elizabeth close to tears, she sighed. She knew her mother wasn't a bad person or even a bad mother...just a distant one.

"Look," she murmured calmly. "I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve here. Don't you _want _me to be happy? What exactly are you trying to do?"

"I'm not sure," Elizabeth admitted brokenly. "I just thought...oh, I don't know! You're so different with him. I've never seen you smile this much before."

"And?" Patricia asked in disbelief. She was trying to keep her patience but it was getting tough. "You're _jealous?"_

"Not quite but I suppose it's something like that," Elizabeth sighed with regret. "I'd go back if I could. Every time I see you with Eddie, it reminds me of how I failed as a mother and - "

Patricia groaned. This had gotten far too sentimental. She was still miffed with her mother for being so rude but they had reached a truce of sorts. "Mom, no," she mumbled. "It's fine. I wouldn't go back. I'm really not bitter anymore. I'm glad it happened the way it did. I mean it got me Eddie, right?"

Elizabeth wrapped Patricia in a strangling hug and weeped. "Yeah, I guess it did," she sniffled. "He's amazing, really dear. Oh so polite and charming."

Patricia grinned, relieved the difficult conversation was winding down. "Wedding planning later, okay? Focus on your dinner party thing. I'm going to call it a night."

Elizabeth nodded and gave Patricia a little wave. "Okay, goodnight. I'm sorry. And I love you."

"Love you too," Patricia managed before racing up the stairs. She had to get out of there.

That had been aggravating but worth it. She was counting on her mother to behave from now on.

Now she just had to hope Eddie wasn't scarred for life.

* * *

He returned late at night and tripped over a suitcase trying to get to the bed in the dark.

Patricia sat up immediately. "No way," she breathed. "You got drunk with my dad?"

"Oh, you're awake." Eddie fumbled for the light switch so he could see. "And no, of course not." He shot Patricia his _who do you think I am look?_ before changing and making his way to the bed. "I just tripped."

"Oh." Patricia sounded disappointed. "Mm not as fun."

"I guess not." Eddie grinned into the darkness. "So. Did you win World War III?"

She elbowed him in the ribs. "Terrible joke. But yeah, I believe I did."

Silence elapsed and Patricia didn't break it, waiting for Eddie to process that. Finally, he spoke. "So...does your mom hate me?"

"Nope." Patricia wrapped her arms around his middle and kissed his cheek, smoothing his hair back. "There was just...a misunderstanding. She was misguided."

"Misguided in what exactly?"

"Protecting me. I think." Patricia shrugged. "I left the kitchen as quickly as I could so I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. I thought emotional conversations with _you _were bad, god, I was so wrong. How could I forget how bad it gets with my mom? It was insane. Too emotional."

Eddie snorted. "You seem fine."

"The emotion was one-sided," Patricia clarified. "I'm a robot. I don't have feelings."

Eddie laughed. "Yeah, okay. Keep telling yourself that."

* * *

Ever since Patricia and Elizabeth's understanding, things had been better. The night of the dinner party had dawned upon them and their home was transformed into a winder wonderland. Samuel and Eddie had gone overboard with the decorating since neither had felt qualified enough to helping with the cooking.

Patricia spent a lot of time introducing Eddie to her relatives and Eddie was requested to share their "love story" several times. It wasn't until his fourth telling that he realized how romantic it was. By the tenth request, he helpfully gave anyone who asked the name of his book.

"A lot of elements of our history is in there," he promised.

But of course that brought on the discussion of Eddie being an author. ("Oh, Patricia! He's published. How fantastic! You must be so proud!")

Piper was there too, which was nice for Eddie since he had briefly met her last year. He spent a lot of time chatting with her, enquiring about her music and career since she loved to talk about it.

It was fun and the food was great and Eddie enjoyed meeting Patricia's cousins and aunts and uncles. He was a people person and after facing her parents, her extended family was hardly a big deal.

But after a while it got a little overwhelming. Her family was _huge _and Eddie was getting confused trying to keep all the names straight. It didn't help that Patricia had gotten immersed in seeing people for the first time in years and had mistakenly kind of abandoned him.

All of a sudden he felt like he needed air.

He escaped onto the deck and shivered a little. The air was frosty enough that he could see his breath. It was cold but he didn't intend to stay out there for long. He just needed a few minutes to unwind.

"It can get a little intimidating out there."

Eddie spun around and blinked in surprise at the person he saw.

Elizabeth.

"Yeah," he agreed, feeling awkward. "It's nice though. Everyone's really nice."

He stared out into the backyard and admired the trees. The Williamsons' land sort of morphed into the forest and covered with frost, it was beautiful. He pulled a small notebook out of his suit jacket pocket and jotted a couple things down before stuffing it back in his pocket. Elizabeth watched him silently, observing his every action.

"I wasn't a very good host before," she mused aloud.

Eddie froze. "No, Mrs. Williamson, you've been great." He was lying and they both knew it but he managed to make it sound sincere.

She threw him a knowing look and shook her head. "I came out here to apologize. Now seemed as good a time as any. I know you were probably expecting Patricia to come after you and not me."

"I wasn't expecting anyone," he said honestly. "Patricia is seeing people she hasn't seen since high school. We can hang out later. And thanks for the apology. It wasn't necessary but thanks anyway, Mrs. Williamson."

"You call my husband by his first name," Elizabeth observed. "Please do the same with me?"

She smiled at him sincerely and Eddie instantly felt more comfortable. "Sure," he returned her smile.

Elizabeth left him then, having decided she had intruded upon his alone time for too long. "Come inside soon!" she called over her shoulder. "You're not wearing a coat."

Eddie said he would but he ended up staying out there far longer than he intended, lost in his own thoughts. It wasn't until someone threw a coat over his shoulders that he realized how long he had been standing out there in the icy cold.

It had started to snow too.

"You idiot," Patricia said fondly.

"Sorry, who are you?" Eddie asked innocently.

"Hey! I was spending time with my family!"

"I know, just joking," he said through chattering teeth.

Patricia rolled her eyes. "If you get sick, it's completely your fault," she said, grabbing a hold of his shoulders and propelling him indoors.

It wasn't until they were in bed, discussing the party and the people they had encountered that she asked him about being out on the deck.

"What were you doing out there?"

"Just getting some air," Eddie replied.

"For over an hour?" Patricia questioned. "Sorry, was I supposed to come rescue you sooner?"

"That would have been nice."

Eddie tickled her sides to let her know he was just kidding.

* * *

"Merry Christmas!" Eddie whooped loudly. He had moved so he was hovering over Patricia, careful to balance all his weight on his hands.

"Get. off. me." Patricia cracked one eye open and scowled at him.

"Where's your Christmas spirit?" he pouted.

"It's hanging out with 9am which incidentally is when you should be waking me up. As opposed to 6am," Patricia mumbled, pulling the covers over her head. Her voice was muffled from the blankets but still audible. "I think most couples our age sleep in and wake up in a more romantic fashion."

"Oh, like sex?" Eddie asked wickedly.

Patricia was suddenly glad the comforter was over her head. He wouldn't see her blushing. But it's not like he couldn't guess.

"How red are those pretty cheeks?"

"Eddie!" Patricia whined.

He dropped his weight then, landing on top of her. She shrieked and pushed him off the bed but he dragged her down with him. They ended up in yet another tangled up heap on the floor, blankets and pillows scattered around them.

"This is beginning to become a habit with us," Patricia sighed, pushing the hair back out of her face.

"Are you awake yet?" Eddie asked cheerfully.

"I _guess _so," she huffed dramatically, staggering to her feet and halfheartedly latching onto his hand.

He practically dragged her down the stairs, only letting her go when they had reached the tree. Samuel and Elizabeth were waiting with steaming mugs of hot coffee.

Piper was already holding her mug, looking just as sleepy as Patricia. They were twin sisters after all.

"Oh good," Patricia muttered. "Present number one."

Everyone laughed at Patricia's grumpiness and the opening of presents commenced. Eddie received a sweater and a couple of classics books from Patricia's parents which he adored. He had gifted them a digital photo frame and a painting. There were more gifts exchanged between Patricia and Piper and their parents but the ones the Williamsons were curious about were the gifts between Eddie and Patricia.

They had bought each other each a couple things but had agreed to only bring one thing with them to keep their bags light. Patricia joyously handed Eddie a homemade scrapbook of pictures she had put together. "It's all sappy. Just the way you like it," she said with pride.

Eddie launched himself at her and kissed her deeply, forgetting all about Samuel and Elizabeth. It was the first time they showed explicit physical affection in front of her parents who both laughed.

He released Patricia and beamed, looking a little embarrassed.

"Eddie!" Patricia said, sounding scandalized.

"Um, sorry," he grinned.

In return, he handed her a little collection of poems that he had written especially for her. Early on in their relationship, Patricia had expressed a deep interest in particularly his poetry.

She flung her arms around his neck and when she eventually released him, she didn't move from her place in his lap.

"All homemade stuff," Piper noticed. "Gosh, Eddie. I thought published authors made good money!"

"We do," he winked. "All the more materialistic gifts are sitting at home under our tree. I guess we both had the brilliant idea of bringing the extra meaningful stuff with us."

"Great minds think alike," Patricia said solemnly.

Everyone laughed and the rest of the day went by quickly, filled with casual chatter, holiday movies, one particularly rowdy snowball fight, and a special dinner put together by Elizabeth.

And much to everyone's delight, at the end of the night Eddie shyly and awkwardly admitted to feeling like a part of their family.

Patricia couldn't have asked for anything better.

* * *

**A/N:**

I kinda got lazy on describing Christmas but I think this still turned out all right. Piper also doesn't have a huge appearance but that's because I forgot all about her and had to go back and write her in...oops?! Not to mention this chapter was also supposed to include New Year's but I shuffled things around. Not that you guys would know since I'm the only one with access to the official story outline but I thought I'd share :)

I'd also like to mention that I wrote this chapter while procrastinating studying for my last final. It's tomorrow morning and after that I'm officially done with my first year of college! YAAAY :)


	15. Chapter 16

**A/N:**

Hi everyone! Thanks for the amazing comments on the last chapter and sorry for the 2+ week wait on this one. This fic was supposed to only be 20 chapters epilogue concluded but now it looks like it may be a couple more. I actually had more stuff planned for this chapter but it was getting long so I capped it here. In any case, I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve so we'll see where things go.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

"Dad!" Eddie hollered. "Yo, over here!" He hopped off the train and frantically waved at his father, leaving Patricia to fumble with their bags.

"Really Eddie?!" she complained.

"Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly, having the decency to look ashamed. He extended a hand to help Patricia get off the train and then pulled a duffel bag over his shoulder and grabbed one of the suitcases. "The other one is your problem. I'm not carrying that. _Ever._"

Patricia cringed at the magenta/pinkish shade of her suitcase and nodded with a rueful grin of acknowledgement. She couldn't blame Eddie on this one. The blasted piece of luggage had been a gift from Piper who had insisted that Patricia use it for the remainder of her trip. Sometimes Patricia was convinced the whole twin wavelength thing was all a lie because a _pink suitcase? _Really? Clearly, Piper hadn't been thinking straight.

She rolled her suitcase towards her animated fiancé who was practically tripping over his own feet, trying to make his way to his father. She briefly felt a small pang of longing and curiosity; she couldn't imagine being that excited to see _her _parents. But here Eddie was, a young man with divorced parents who seemed pretty comfortable with both parents. Somehow, that didn't seem fair. Patricia brushed it off and mentally prepared herself to see her old schoolmaster.

Naturally, she wasn't nearly as nervous as Eddie had been when meeting _her _parents, but still. She hadn't seen Mr. Sweet since her high school graduation and that was almost ten years ago. She was no longer the same withdrawn, awkward teenager.

Patricia was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't realize when she was nearing Mr. Sweet and Eddie. It was her ex-principal's rambling that brought her back to reality.

"So good to see you, Edison, but I had so hoped you would have abandoned the slang by now. _Yo _is not a proper word and as an official published author..." Mr. Sweet was saying.

"Figures the first thing you do is lecture me," Eddie complained. "Can't we just hug?"

Mr. Sweet pulled his son in for a clumsy embrace and the two grinned stupidly at each other. That's when Patricia joined them.

"Patricia!" Mr. Sweet exclaimed joyfully. He turned to Eddie and gave him a look of warning. "And that's the other thing, Edison. It's terribly rude to leave your girlfriend behind."

Patricia beamed in spite of herself. Mr. Sweet hadn't changed a bit. "It's okay," she assured him. "He was just excited to see you. He's been babbling about you the entire train ride, he's so happy to be here."

Mr. Sweet looked pleased, an odd look of affection and shy surprise crossing his face. "You never said you missed me so much, Edison," he said gruffly.

"Wouldn't want it to go to your head," Eddie retorted, looking a little embarrassed. "And dad, it's _Eddie. _How many times do I have to tell you that?! You do fine on the phone."

"Well, I - "

Patricia cut Mr. Sweet off before he could advance. "Okay, I'd love to see my fiancé argue with my old school principal but can that maybe wait till we get home? We're still in the middle of the train station."

"Splendid idea," Mr. Sweet agreed, leading the couple to his car. "It's so nice to see you both. Patricia, really, it's been too long..."

* * *

Staying with a former teacher and principal wasn't as weird as it should be. Patricia was convinced the entire thing would be an uncomfortable ordeal but it was surprisingly kind of nice.

Mr. Sweet had a cozy house on school grounds and another larger place about an hour away, but they went to the house on school grounds.

"We have a lot of children staying for the holidays this term," Mr. Sweet explained, sounding a little sad. He wasn't worried about himself, but the fact that so many children didn't go home for Christmas. "Normally I spend the winter holidays at my other house off grounds but this year we had so many kinds opt to stay, we needed more supervision around here. Poor children."

"What happened?" Patricia asked curiously as they pulled into Mr. Sweet's driveway. "When I was here, everyone went home. Even me."

"Everyone's circumstances are different, of course," Mr. Sweet began thoughtfully. "But basically, students go here for different reasons than they used to. Most of them do not choose to be here. They end up loving it of course, but they'll enrolled because their parents frequently make business trips or are ambassadors or simply don't have time. The reasons vary. But let's just say, there are a lot of parents who have other priorities this holiday season and there are a lot of children who have come to love it here and would rather stay here. In an odd sort of way, it works."

Both Patricia and Eddie nodded in understanding. "Seems lonely," Eddie commented. "Holidays are for family."

Mr. Sweet looked at his son with guilt and regret. Eddie hadn't had many holidays with his entire family. After he moved to America with his mother, he hadn't ever gotten the chance to visit his father for Christmas. Summers was when he got to see him.

"Anyway," Mr. Sweet cleared his throat. "Come in and get settled. I'll go make tea." He pointed towards the couch and disappeared into the kitchen, probably to compose himself a little. It had been too long since he'd seen his son.

It wasn't until after Patricia and Eddie obediently settled onto the couch that the burst into laughter. It was kind of funny; even as adults, they had listened to Mr. Sweet without a second thought.

"He's good at what he does," Patricia praised. "We're _still _listening to him."

"I always listened to him," Eddie objected. "_You _on the other hand..." he trailed off mischievously.

"No way!" Patricia complained. "Your dad has told you stories about me?"

"Not yet," Eddie winked. "I look forward to it though."

"I'm sure you do," she grumbled. "Well two can play that game. I can't wait to hear the stories about _you. _And the pictures! I bet your dad has lots of pictures."

"Probably," Eddie shrugged, unbothered. "I've always been cute though. I've got nothing to hide."

"Egotistical idiot," Patricia teased.

Eddie's response was to abandon all laws of personal space and close the gap between them and kiss Patricia deeply.

"Mmph," Patricia attempted to speak against Eddie's lips and mostly failed. "Your dad is in the other room," she finally managed to hiss.

"Your point being?" Eddie only briefly paused to ask before attacking her lips again.

Patricia wasn't sure she even had one. She shrugged and looped her arms around his neck and kissed back because _why not? _If visiting his dad made Eddie this happy, she was going to like being here.

* * *

The second half of the trip was going incredibly well. There was no adjustment period the way there had been at Patricia's family home. Mr. Sweet was the opposite of intimidating and made a point to spend time with the couple but also give them their space.

He was grateful they were planning on spending New Year's with him. He couldn't remember the last time he had welcomed a new year with family at his side.

"Hey dad, where are you going?" Eddie spotted his father quietly slipping into his coat.

"Ah, good morning," Mr. Sweet said. "Just had to discuss a small matter with Victor. I thought I'd also check in with his residents, see how they're going."

"Oh, that's nice," Eddie replied. "Do you, uh, make a habit of visiting the students? That's kind of parental of you."

"Well their parents aren't around, so," Mr. Sweet shifted uncomfortably. "You'd be surprised how much they like my company when I'm not teaching them science or assigning them homework."

Eddie grinned. "Somehow I'm not that surprised."

Patricia padded into the kitchen a couple moments later. "What's this about visiting Anubis House?" she asked with interest.

"Oh, it's just one of the houses," Eddie explained.

"She knows Anubis House very well," Mr. Sweet said with a wide smile. "She stayed there."

"Yup," Patricia confirmed. "It wasn't so bad."

"You loved it!" Mr. Sweet countered.

"Oh, I keep forgetting you know this place better than I do," Eddie smacked his forehead.

"Maybe I can take you on a tour?" Patricia suggested.

"That's a fantastic idea," Mr. Sweet approved. "Come with me to Anubis House and then show Eddie the grounds and the schoolhouse. He'll love it."

Once the plan was decided, the couple wasted no time getting dressed. New Year's Eve had snuck upon them and they had no plans for the day, so Eddie was all for a tour of his father's beloved school.

Eddie got a pretty full experience. He meant the cranky Victor, a few of the Anubis House residents, and the lovely housekeeper, Trudy. After tea at Anubis House, they wandered the grounds. Patricia showed him every nook and cranny of the school building, the Frobisher library, and the small neighborhood of houses for the professors who lived on campus.

"Supposedly there's some haunted crypt around here too," Patricia said thoughtfully. "Some weird Egyptian prophecy that didn't end up coming true? I dunno. I think it's meant to be famous amongst nerds." She grinned. "Ask Fabian sometime."

"I will," Eddie replied with interest. "This place is...cool. I think I would have liked going here."

"It was pretty fantastic," Patricia agreed. "Even though I didn't...I wasn't..."

"The beautiful outgoing young woman you are now?" Eddie provided innocently.

"Yeah...sure. That." Patricia ducked her head and Eddie grabbed her hand in response sweetly placing a kiss on her cheek.

"You were saying?"

"It was just really fun," she shrugged. "I was kind of shy but I still had a few friends. Impossible not to when you're in a boarding school. I played so many pranks on your dad with some of my buddies, Alfie and Jerome."

"Both boys," Eddie whined.

"There was Joy too!" Patricia said. "She probably understood me the best."

"I'm glad you had people who understood you," Eddie said intensely, squeezing her hand.

"You sap," she muttered, squeezing back.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Eddie mock apologized. "I didn't realize having a sweet and considerate boyfriend was _such _an inconvenience. Maybe you'd prefer someone a little more adventurous and fun."

He scooped up a handful of snow and before Patricia could process what was happening she had already been hit.

"You're a dead man!" she howled, mashing some snow into a ball. "You had better run!"

Eddie obliged and the couple ended up engaging in a full out snowball fight. They bumped into a couple of the kids who were staying on campus who joined their game.

"You're the coolest adults we've ever met," one of them spoke up for the entire group.

"Yeah. You should come to the party tonight. Your Mr. Sweet's son, right? I think he'll be there. He always is. You should come too!"

The kids chorused in agreement.

Breathless and exerted from all the running around, Eddie sighed. "Coolest adults," he echoed. "I feel old."

"What he means is, we'd love to," Patricia said, dragging her exhausted boyfriend in direction of the town square with a cheerful. They could use some coffee.

"Who knew you had manners?" Eddie said teasingly. "My father told me otherwise."

"Oh, shut up," Patricia said fondly. "I grew up. Now come on, last stop on the tour, the village area. It's where all the kids go on the weekends."

Eddie perked up with interest. "Like Hogsmeade!"

Patricia wrinkled her nose distastefully. She had finally finished the Harry Potter series and had admittedly loved them, but that didn't mean everything related back to it.

"God, no, you dork," she replied. "Not even a little bit."

But she left Eddie launch into a detailed argument of how the town square mirrored Hogsmeade without complaint. It was kind of cute.

It wasn't until Eddie had shaken the snow out of his hair and had a steaming mug of tea in his hands that he remembered what the school kids had said. "Party," he murmured. "It's weird. Dad didn't mention it."

"I never stayed here for the holidays but what they said was true. There's always a big Christmas dinner and New Year's celebration for the kids who stay behind. Held in the auditorium of the school building. I've heard it's lots of fun. I've also heard that your dad is _always _there."

"Makes sense because I moved away really young," Eddie replied. "Who else would he spend New Year's with but his students, you know?"

Patricia made a small sound of agreement. "But your dad said we're going to have a quiet New Year's in and just hang out. Which I'm fine with but maybe he said that because he didn't think you'd be interested in the party. You should ask him about."

"I didn't think about it like that," Eddie frowned. "Yeah, I think I will. I don't want him to mess up his tradition just for me. Besides, I love parties!"

Patricia rolled her eyes. "Yeah I know. Your dad, however, does not. Tell him when we get back. It's still the afternoon, there's plenty of time to get ready and go."

"Sounds like a plan."

In the end, that's exactly what Eddie did. As it turns out, Patricia had been right. Mr. Sweet _had _been planning on not going to the celebration because he wanted to pay attention to Eddie and Patricia.

"I go to the part every year," he explained. "But I hardly ever see you. So I thought this year I'd spend it just with you. We could do what we've been doing! Talk about Patricia's mischief as a schoolgirl and make fun of your baby pictures. I'm perfectly content to do exactly that."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Eddie said gruffly. "But you don't have to. Let's go to your party thing."

"Well, no, I - "

"Dad, I want to," Eddie said, exasperated. "I want to see what you do every year."

"Oh." Mr. Sweet looked pleased. He straightened his tie and nodded. "Very well then. Doors open at 7pm, we serve dinner. Since we're going now, I'll go help set up. I'll see you there."

"Okay," Eddie replied with a small grin.

His dad was _such _a drama queen. As though Eddie wouldn't want to go to a New Year's party, even if it _was _meant for a bunch of middle and high schoolers. It sounded like fun to him.

* * *

Eddie was having a blast.

It was kind of cool seeing everyone so happy to see his dad. He kind of thought his dad was joking when he said he was well liked outside of the classroom because let's be real - what administrator was thought of highly _ever_?

But apparently, boarding schools worked differently. All of the students and staff were close with the exception of the nasty Victor. Besides that, students were rushing up with their cameras, asking Mr. Sweet to take pictures with them.

It was kind of adorable, seeing his father's cheeks flushed with joy and excitement. Eddie was mostly glad that Mr. Sweet hadn't spent the last several years wasting the holidays. Apparently, he bonded with people as alone as him and that was...nice.

It wasn't the same as being with family but then in a weird kind of way it was.

"This is awesome, dad," Eddie praised, watching kids roam by with plates of yummy food and the packed dance floor. There was even a projector set up showing the New Year's global coverage. "Very fun."

"I'm glad you like it," Mr. Sweet replied. "It's nothing special, just a children's party, but - "

"No, it's fantastic," Eddie said firmly. "New Year's in a minute, I gotta find Patricia. I'll see you in a bit."

Mr. Sweet beamed. "Happy New Year, son."

Eddie wished him back and set out to find Patricia. He found her looking kind of cross.

"What is it?" he asked, amused. "And you have less than 30 seconds to tell me."

"Some kid just offered to be my New Year's kiss," she complained. "Gross."

"Oh poor you, fending off the attention of young teenage boys," Eddie teased. "You _did _tell him someone else was taking care of that, right?"

"Of course," Patricia huffed.

"Good because 10...9...8...7..."

People were scrambling around, trying to find their respective girlfriends and boyfriends or just trying to get a better look at the projector.

"6...5...4..."

Eddie grinned. He was so ready for this.

"3...2...1..."

"Hooray cliches," he quietly murmured, before grabbing Patricia by her jacket and pulling her in.

Patricia wrapped one arm around his neck and another tangled in his hair. Eddie had his hands around her waist and he couldn't help but groan as he deepened the kiss.

"PG-13, there are children present," Patricia practically panted.

Eddie grumbled something about not caring but he reluctantly let her go before they developed an audience.

Hair disheveled and clothes all rumpled, he grinned. "Happy New Year."

"You too," Patricia said, looking equally ruffled. "Love you," she added.

Naturally, it took all of Eddie's restraint not to kiss her again. Instead he grabbed her hand and pulled her outside so they could watch the colorful fireworks burst.

"This vacation was a good idea," he murmured. "I'm kind of going to miss it."

Patricia nodded in agreement and tightened the grip on his hand, still fascinated by the exploding fireworks.

She was so happy. She never thought she could ever be this happy. And it seemed like every day things just kept getting better.

The negative part of her felt like something bad was coming but she was going to focus on the positive tonight and just hope for the best.

"Happy New Year," she whispered again.

* * *

**A/N:**

Hope you all enjoyed this! Nothing wrong with some holiday fluff even if it's June, right?!

Also who else wishes the school had a name? To my knowledge, there is no official name for the school that Mr. Sweet runs but do correct me if I'm wrong. It seems silly to name the houses but not the school. Not quite sure how the show managed to get away with that for three seasons. Seems pretty wild.


	16. Chapter 17

**A/N:**

Hi again - thanks for the great comments on the last chapter! I heard from far less people than usual but that's perfectly okay. I just hope it's because people are busy with final exams and not because they found the last chapter dull. Anyway, this chapter is also fairly uneventful but it covers certain things I had to mention and contains plenty of fluff, so I hope people like that :)

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

The trip had been the break both Patricia and Eddie had needed. Work, wedding planning, fights...it all amounted to copious amounts of stress. Leaving it all behind for a couple of weeks had been refreshing, a breath of air that the couple had needed.

They had flown in the day after New Year's and had landed in JFK early Saturday morning. Eddie and Patricia had wanted to go back to their apartment and sleep the weekend away to get over some of the jet lag before office rolled around, but they couldn't. Having spent a lot of time with the Williamsons' and his father, Eddie felt guilty for not visiting his mother. Patricia had understood and suggested they spend the weekend there. Ms. Miller had happily accepted the couple's proposal and was looking forward to their visit.

Eddie longingly stared at the sign guiding cars towards midtown, his head pressed against the glass of the cab. Patricia caught him moping and elbowed him gently, smiling. "You're doing the right thing."

"Hardly," he grumbled. "You've met my mom and I lived with her until college. She lives in the same city as us. We could visit her anytime. Work is going to destroy us next week, we're running on UK time! We should go home and sleep"

"If you really believed that were true, home is where we'd be going," Patricia told him with a smirk. "But you're a boring nice boy who always does the right thing, so we're going to your mom's place."

"I wasn't always this perfect," Eddie scoffed. "You should have seen me in college."

"Mm," Patricia hummed in agreement. "I should have. Sounds like you used to be _cool_. Too bad we didn't meet sooner."

Eddie hid a smile, trying to look stern. "Oh, shut up."

"We're here," Patricia said cheerfully, hopping out of the cab and pointedly leaving Eddie to deal with their bags. "I'll go tell your mom to buzz us in. We haven't visited her in a while, especially since we didn't go during Thanksgiving. I can't wait."

Eddie nearly dropped one of the duffel bags at Patricia's mention of Thanksgiving. Neither of one of them were mad at each other anymore but he couldn't help but wonder if Patricia had genuinely felt nothing at the vague reference to the fight that had almost torn them apart. Or if she was just genuinely _that _good at hiding her feelings. (Who was he kidding, of course she was.) He wasn't still hung up over the argument and he had had a fantastic Thanksgiving, but the mention of the holiday still reminded him of their temporarily split. He couldn't help it.

He shook his head disapprovingly at himself and unloaded the rest of the luggage. "You're going soft, Sweet," he scolded himself.

"Stop talking to yourself," Patricia was beside him again, grabbing her share of their bags. She pecked him on the cheek. "Thanks for unloading the cab, you're the best."

Eddie was still lost in his own thoughts.

"Stop sulking," Patricia ordered, tugging on his hand and pulling him towards Ms. Miller's apartment building. "You're usually so annoyingly happy, come on, get with it."

"I'm not sulking, I was thinking," he protested.

"Same thing," Patricia replied. "God, you artists are all the same. So temperamental."

Eddie grinned and for the second time in under ten minutes he found himself telling his fiancée to shut up. She quieted graciously, only pausing to whack him on the head with her purse.

* * *

Patricia and Ms. Miller were quietly chatting, discussing the events of the London trip. Eddie had passed out pretty quickly, slumping into the side of the sofa before even finishing his tea. He was snoring softly, oblivious to the conversation.

"Classic Eddie," Ms. Miller looked down at her son in fond exasperation. "Always falling asleep."

"Literally _always,_" Patricia laughed. "At least he has jet lag as an excuse _this _time. If you and I weren't already comfortable with one another, I'd kill him for ditching me like this."

"Well that's quite the compliment, thank you," Ms. Miller smiled warmly at her future daughter-in-law. "I'm glad you feel comfortable with me."

Patricia shyly shrugged in response and pulled Eddie towards her so that his head was resting in her lap. He moved willingly, shifting a little in his sleep, without waking up. She didn't want him to get a crick in his neck from sleeping at an odd angle. She tried to convince herself she was only doing this because she didn't want to deal with him complaining later and not because she was slightly obsessed with playing with his hair. (She failed miserably. She loved holding Eddie like this.)

Catching the blanket Ms. Miller tossed he, Patricia tucked it around her fiancé before resuming the act of stroking his hair. It should have been awkward, her being this affectionate towards Eddie in front of his mother. But somehow it wasn't.

"So tell me about New Year's!" Ms. Miller exclaimed. "How was it?"

Patricia hesitated. Eddie's mother knew that they had spent the final leg of their trip with Mr. Sweet and Patricia didn't want to say something that would make the older woman feel sad.

Sensing Patricia's discomfort, Ms. Miller laughed softly. "You British people and your manners," she teased. "Really, it's okay. We've been divorced a _long _time, feel free to talk about it. I don't mind otherwise I wouldn't have asked."

"Mr. Sweet was a delightful host," Patricia said in response, opting to keep it simple. She was careful to mainly talk about the tours she gave Eddie and the campus related activities as opposed to Mr. Sweet even though Ms. Miller had said it was fine. "He did say to tell you hello though. He wishes you a Happy New Year."

"Ah yes," Ms. Miller said. "I got his e-mail."

"Oh. You guys e-mail?" Patricia asked with interest. Finishing her cup of tea, she was careful to place the mug on the coffee table without jostling the snoozing Eddie.

"Not often," Ms. Miller replied dismissively. "Only a couple times a year, right around this time because of the holidays and whatnot."

"That's...nice," Patricia finally volunteered, looking troubled.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No." Patricia was quick to reassure the other woman. "I was just...never mind. I think what I was thinking of qualifies as personal information."

"Go ahead and ask," Ms. Miller encouraged.

"I was just wondering...I know everyone's circumstances are different but...I know Mr. Sweet really well. I know you too. You're both wonderful people so I guess I don't understand why you guys separated. It seems like a shame. Did you guys...love each other or...?" Patricia looked mortified at the words that were coming out of her mouth. "Sorry, I shouldn't have!"

"It was a shame," Ms. Miller agreed, not showing any discomfort. "Don't apologize. I raised Eddie. Believe me, I know rude comments like the back of my hand. That definitely wasn't one."

Patricia relaxed a little, cracking a weak smile at Ms. Miller's joke against her own son.

"I did love Eric," Ms. Miller continued. "But it's a lot more complicated than it seems. We just wouldn't have worked. We're both happier now. My only regret is hurting Eddie. He may sometimes act tough, but he's a a bit of a softie. It was hard for him."

"He doesn't even act tough. He's a _complete _softie." Patricia giggled, lightening the mood a little. She sobered quickly, looking down at her fiancé before meeting Ms. Miller's kind eyes. "I guess the reason I ask is...I worry. I get that love isn't always enough. But it _should _be. Because if it's not than maybe it'll happen to us too and - "

"Don't say that!" Ms. Miller chastised. "Love is important. _Of course _it is. But think about it - there are millions of couple who are happy married and don't necessarily love each other the way you and Eddie love each other. What I'm trying to say is, while love is important, so is practicality. Eric and I loved each other but we wanted different things out of life from the start and we ignored that. It ended up blowing up in our faces. You and Eddie not only love each other, you're on the same page. You'll be _fine."_

Patricia nodded, feeling much better. "I get worried sometimes," she admitted sheepishly.

Ms. Miller had heard the long tale of how her son and Patricia had gotten together so she already knew all about Patricia's prior tendencies to shut people out. "I know," she said. "But you shouldn't. The two of you are a very strong pair. Your love is natural. It will last."

"It will? We won't get bored? We won't have problems?"

The questions tumbled out of Patricia's lips. She could never ask her own mom these questions so she found herself taking advantage of the conversation.

"I said your love was natural, not easy," Ms. Miller teased. "There will be fights, things won't be effortless. But it will be fine. Eric and I...he wanted to be in England, I wanted to be here. He's extremely dedicated to his school, and in the end, he couldn't leave it and I just couldn't stay there. Different career choices...different views on family..."

Patricia raised an eyebrow and glanced at her fiancé. Had his parents not wanted him?

"Oh no, not like that!" Ms. Miller exclaimed. "We love Eddie dearly and have always wanted him our lives. What I meant was Eric wanted more kids and I never wanted a large family. But my point is, you two have talked about all of the important stuff and you guys share the same opinion on everything that matters. Trust me, sweetheart, you'll be fine."

"Good, thank you for everything," Patricia said gratefully, feeling properly comforted.

"Of course. I'll go get some papers I need to grade. Why don't you watch some television for a little bit while lazy bones over there rests a little bit? Are you uncomfortable? We can wake him up and have him move to the spare bedroom."

"No it's okay," Patricia subconsciously tightened her grip on Eddie. She didn't mind being his human pillow. Ms. Miller nodded and left the room to get the papers.

Patricia lay her hand on Eddie's cheek. "I'm glad your mom thinks we're going to last," she whispered to him. "Because I can't imagine being alone after having met you. I really couldn't imagine my life without you. Also you had _better _really be asleep because this is not something I'd ever say to your face so if it turns out you've been listening the whole time, I'll kill you without hesitation."

She slapped Eddie's face lightly and he merely frowned in his sleep and burrowed his head into her arm, nestling further into her lap.

"Thank god," she muttered. "Can't have him acting all egotistical just because I love him. That would be disastrous."

* * *

It was dark when Eddie awoke. Patricia had long since wriggled off the sofa without waking him and was in the kitchen, helping Ms. Miller cook.

"Sorry for crashing earlier," he said, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl and taking a large bite out of it. "It just kind of happened."

"It always does," Patricia joked.

"So what did I miss?" Eddie asked.

Patricia and Ms. Miller shared a knowing look. "Nothing," they chorused in unison.

"What was that look?" Eddie asked suspiciously. "And since when do you two say the same thing at the same time? _Mom, _I'm supposed to be the one who can do that with Patricia!"

"Edison, you're in my way," she said strictly, weaving around him, salad bowl in hand.

"Yeah Eddie, if you're not going to help, go wait outside. We're kind of busy."

He glowered at them. "Oh god, I really _did _miss something. Tell me," he demanded.

When neither Patricia nor Ms. Miller divulged any information, he stormed out of the kitchen. He returned a moment later having forgotten his apple on the kitchen counter. "It was probably girly and stupid," he said, turning on his heel.

"Girly, yes. Stupid, no," Patricia called over her shoulder. "Next time don't fall asleep! You'll get to be a part of all the super secret conversations."

Eddie didn't answer and Patricia grinned. She could practically _hear _him fuming from the next room, the curiosity eating him up.

"Maybe we were a little mean to him," Ms. Miller said thoughtfully.

"Not at all," Patricia said wickedly.

* * *

Eddie was so busy clacking away at his computer that he didn't hear Patricia enter the room.

"Not going to acknowledge my prescence, huh?" Patricia mused. "Still sulking about the joke from before?"

"What, no." Eddie looked up, distracted. "I got over that hours ago," he chuckled. "I just didn't hear you come in."

"I see." Patricia plopped down onto the chair next to him, careful to angle herself away from Eddie's computer screen. He got all cranky when she read stuff he wasn't ready to share yet. "Working on something new?"

"Trying to," he replied, sounding frustrated. "Mara says I should start working on a new novel. Something about expectations and keeping my name out there, I dunno. But I don't want to write just because someone is _telling _me to. It has to be good. Now people actually expect a certain standard from me so that makes it harder and I'm a little stressed." Eddie ran his knuckles over his eyes like a child. "What do I _do?"_

Patricia shrugged. "As long as you don't fall in love with your next door neighbor and end up being incredibly inspired by her, I'm good."

Eddie burst out laughing. "Yeah, no. That was a one time thing."

_"Good." _Patricia leaned her head on Eddie's shoulder.

"Patricia..." Eddie began.

"Oh, calm down, my eyes are closed. I'm not looking at your stupid computer screen, you self-obsessed clown."

"Oh okay," he grinned. "Never mind."

"Don't worry." Patricia squeezed Eddie's hand. "You'll figure something out. And it will be amazing. It always is."

"I hope so," he sighed in response, dejectedly slamming his laptop shut and guiding his fiancée to bed.

* * *

**A/N:**

I seriously think Eddie may spend more of this fic asleep than awake. OOPS. I have a few NADM drabbles with sleepy Eddie too - I just can't help it. I think it's adorable?! Hooray Peddie cuddles.

Anyway, I decided not to make this the first time Patricia was meeting Eddie's mother. It's inferred that they've met before since they both live in NYC. That way, it's pretty realistic for Patricia to feel comfortable enough to have a serious conversation with Ms. Miller. It doubly makes sense since the concerns Patricia raises are not things that she'd feel comfortable discussing with her _own _mother so she _really _wants to talk about them with someone she feels sort of close to. I hope that was realistic!


	17. Chapter 18

**A/N:**

It's been too long since I've updated this one! Sorry for taking so much time, but here I am. This fic will without a doubt be finished before I go to school which is late August so I have a little less than a month to get the last 3-5 chapters out. (Still not sure on the final numbers of chapter.)

We're skipping a little ahead on the timeline to mid March.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Time was whizzing past and with each passing day the wedding was getting a little bit closer.

"I don't remember this much planning going into your wedding," Eddie complained to Nina, covering his face with both hands.

"Oh believe me, it did," Nina assured him with a gentle smile. "What does Patricia have you looking at now?"

"Suit options," he replied. "I mean, who cares? It's just a suit."

"It's your wedding suit and it matters," Nina countered. "Just be grateful that Patricia will be too concerned with her dress to really care about your suit though. Just look nice, no one cares about the groom's clothing."

"My point exactly," Eddie said, face palming. He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "I guess I just never realized how intense she was going to be about all this stuff. She didn't seem like that kind of girl."

"Every girl getting married is that kind of girl, silly!" Nina ruffled Eddie's hair, laughing at her friend's boyish cluelessness. "But for the record, Patricia always cared about the details. She just hides it well."

Eddie made a small sound of agreement and nodded, stretching back in his chair. "Yeah. Anyways, do you have those edits for me?"

Nina handed him a marked up article in response. "It's brilliant," she praised. "This is a big scoop though, Eddie. It's tomorrow's headline and you've done some pretty intense investigative research. There is information in this article that's going to piss off that fugitive. Are you sure you want to publish this?"_  
_

"I have to."

"You can cut some facts out. Make it less controversial."

Eddie's face darkened. "You know I can't," he sighed. "Controversial is _good_. And the editor in chief loves it. We need something like this."

"It will be good for your career," Nina acknowledged.

"Forget my career. That's not what this is about," Eddie said grimly. "We have a right to give the public the truth. This tension has been going on for too long. If there's an insane serial gunman gone wild and he was last spotted in New York, we owe it to our fellow citizens and all that, you know?"

"Yeah I know. It's just...it's terrifying," Nina murmured.

It was the strangest, most horrifying thing to take place in a while.

A middle aged man, presumably deranged, had been working his way up from Washington D.C, shooting a few people as he headed north. At this point, his motives were still being analyzed, a pattern being shaped.

"He was a longtime reporter in D.C. who got fired over some stupid scandal," Nina reminded her friend. "His entire career has been tarnished, his name discredited. He hasn't been randomly shooting strangers! He's been targeting the media. Newspaper headquarters and TV studios alike. Anyone affiliated with his old place of work. Our office is probably on his list. If you publish this, he will show up and he'll show up for you!"_  
_

"You think I don't know that?" Eddie murmured hotly. "I don't want to put anyone at risk, you know that. I've discussed this with the editor in chief. The fact of the matter is, I'm not the only one who has been getting this information. If we don't report it as soon as possible, someone else will. No matter what we do they will. So it's best we not miss our chance, because I'm pretty sure our article is going to the most informative, the best one there is."

"I just don't want anyone to get hurt," Nina hedged.

"I don't either," Eddie's shoulders slumped. "But it's like you said. Even if we cut the article, we're due for a visit from this gunman. The only thing to do is to be prepared. It's an unorthodox situation, we have nothing else to compare it to. Something is coming. We've just got to be on guard."

"He's on a rampage. It's ridiculous that he keeps managing to escape," Nina muttered.

"Two shootings is hardly a rampage," Eddie countered, rubbing a tired hand across his face. "I hate to sound heartless, but there have been instances where gunmen escaped after one big incident. What's one more to add to that? What's happening is a tragedy, but it's not exactly impossible. All this means is he's extremely intelligent."

"I guess you're right. I just don't like that anything can happen any second," Nina said. "I'm scared. And even though it's only been a matter of a couple days, I hate keeping this from Fabian."

That was a feeling that Eddie knew well. The tricky thing with situations like this was that as a successful journalist, he sometimes had vital information sooner than others. It was tough, keeping the details away from Patricia.

She knew that Eddie's office was a potential target (everyone did based on the gunman's pattern) but she didn't realize that it was just about a sure bet based on the article that would go out.

With some assistance from Nina and a few others, Eddie had dug deep. He had come across an interesting angle on the gunman's backstory, including personal details regarding the scandal that got him fired never formerly disclosed. Naturally, the article shed a negative light on the ex-journalist and cautioned the public by giving them vital information and patterns like dates and locations.

It was just one story, but it was huge.

To the public it was yet another news source covering the biggest incident to hit the east coast. But to Eddie's office, it was a hell of a lot more than that.

Keeping things from Patricia made his stomach churn with guilt, especially considering the dangerous nature of the content. But he had no choice.

He knew that some part of Patricia understood, but the matter had made things pretty tense between them this past week.

* * *

"You've been quiet this week," Patricia said conversationally, carrying dinner out into the dining area.

Eddie resisted a sigh, knowing that his fiancée was trying to broach a topic he wasn't interested in talking about. She wanted information on the shooter. "It's been a rough week," he allowed.

"Have you gotten any time to write?"

A tiny, reluctant chuckle escaped Eddie's mouth. "It's what I do for a living."

"Don't be cheeky," Patricia grinned. "I meant personal writing. Book writing. Mara, your agent was asking for a progress update, right?"

"Well that's between her and me, isn't it?" Eddie snapped. Patricia's smile fell and Eddie winced in regret. "Sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm just really stressed, you know?"

"I know," Patricia murmured softly, letting Eddie's comment pass. "But that's why I'm trying to talk to you. What's going on at work? I'm really worried."

"Join the club," he sighed.

"I'm serious, Eddie!" she persisted. "That insane man is out there somewhere and he was last spotted crossing the state border into New York. His only targets have been affiliates of his newspaper. You don't think I haven't been reading the news?"

"I _am _the news!" Eddie raised his voice a little, exasperated. "I know all this. Of course I do. But what do you want me to do?"

Patricia pushed her plate aside, her appetite gone. "How about you try not looking so guilty all the time? I'm not stupid, you know. You're hiding something from me."

He stayed silent.

"You know something, don't you?" When Eddie didn't answer, Patricia grew more agitated. "You _do _know something. How can you not tell me?"

"You'll read about it tomorrow!"

"That's not the same! How can you not give me more details when you're possibly in danger?"

"You don't think I want to?" Eddie demanded. "Of course I do. I'm not allowed. It's like...being a writer for a television show or something. I guarantee you those writers aren't allowed to tell their families spoilers before episodes air. It doesn't work like that."

"Except this is real life," Patricia argued. "It's not a fair comparison! It's killing me to see you so tense and upset and have you confide in someone else."

At this accusation, Eddie's head snapped up in surprise. "Someone else?"

"Nina!" Patricia exclaimed. "You told Nina and not me. She knows something too. I could just tell."

"I didn't _tell _Nina anything," Eddie said, aggravated. "Would you listen to herself? Of course she knows! We work at the same place."

They elapsed in silence and a few moments passed before Patricia spoke again.

"Please Eddie?" she asked softly. "For me?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I can't," he whispered. "I wish I could but I can't. I'm sorry."

Not wanting to argue any longer Patricia simply stood up and cleared her plate.

"Patricia - "

"I'm tired," she interrupted. "I'm going to go to bed. Good night."

Eddie slumped in his seat, dejected. "Good night," he muttered to the empty room.

That conversation had been exactly what he'd been trying to avoid.

* * *

"Patricia! Patricia, come quickly!"

At the sound of one of her colleague's voice, she exited her tiny office area, cup of coffee still in hand. "What is it?"

Wordlessly, her colleague pointed at the television.

The words _Breaking News: New York Times Headquarters Attacked _flashed across the scene and Patricia felt her heart drop.

"Oh my god," she whispered, horrified.

She snatched up a copy of today's paper and skimmed the headline containing damaging information on the gunman and shuddered. Eddie's name was written in clear black ink right underneath the title. Nina's as well.

"Oh Eddie," she murmured, quickly putting the pieces together.

It's true that his office was at risk, but publishing this article was pretty much asking for trouble.

With a jolt of shock, Patricia suddenly realized that Eddie had known this.

He knew what was at stake the whole time.

"Please be safe," she muttered, too shocked to react in any other way.

"Earlier this morning, the _New York Times_ main office was infiltrated. Having expected an attack, security measures were high. Unlike his other attacks, Mark White's tactics were different this time. Well aware of the heightened security, apparently White snuck by posing as a window washer. At this point details are still unknown as the building continues to be seized, but it looks like he entered through an open window while cleaning. As you can see, behind me, people are currently evacuating. We're hearing gunshots every ten minutes or so which gives us reason to believe that White is not randomly firing. Known for revenge, he it is likely that he has a few targets in mind. Anyone else in injured was most likely hurt in the crossfire. At this point in time, we suspect Eddie Sweet and Nina Rutter to be two of the possible targets based on their controversial article that hit the papers just this morning. The young Mr. Sweet is an upcoming and young author who recently wrote the bestseller _Destination Trust. _Police officers entered the building about two minutes ago and are trying to pinpoint the location of the gunshots. We sincerely hope that all of our friends over at the _New York Times _office are keeping safe and we will be back with an update as soon as we have one."

Patricia's coffee cup clattered to the floor and shattered.

She felt like she couldn't breathe, like her mind was closing in on itself, she was so unbelievably worried.

"I have to go," she said with a gasp before dashing out of her own building.

_Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe_.

She didn't know what she would do if he wasn't. She wasn't sure she'd be able to take it if something happened to him and the last conversation they ever had was a stupid argument.

Patricia hailed a cab and jumped inside, her heart thudding unsteadily inside of her chest.

She felt like she was about to be sick.

She prayed the entire ride over to his office.

* * *

Eddie could hear the bullets flying from a few floor below them.

"He's almost here! He's coming after us!" Nina shrieked. "Eddie, what have we done? We've put everyone in danger, we've - "

"...got to stay calm," Eddie finished, his voice steady but his gaze terrified. "We've got to stay calm."

"We have to evacuate," Nina hissed.

Eddie let out a hysterical laugh. "Evacuate from the 26th floor? How do you propose we do that? We can't chance the elevators, we'll run right into him."

"The stairs!" Nina suggested as people raced past them.

Everyone was in a panic, scattering in an effort to leave the building. No one was stopping and blaming the pair of them for writing that article. The guilt was killing Eddie. He had known that this disaster was a possibility, but somehow he'd been hoping it wouldn't happen.

Even if his colleagues weren't in a panic, he knew they wouldn't be blaming him. It had been an executive decision to let the article through.

But was blaming himself.

"Where is White right now?" Eddie asked.

"Who knows?" Nina said. "The 15th floor maybe? Maybe he'll look for us down instead of up."

"Either way, we're kind of screwed," Eddie muttered. "He knows who we are and he's looking for us."

He took a deep breath, allowing himself a moment to internally panic, to pine for Patricia, to wish that they hadn't had that disagreement last night.

Because part of him felt like his life was in danger, like he wasn't going to see her again.

And that terrified him.

But he wasn't going to just let it happen.

"Come on, let's go," he grabbed Nina's hand and pulled her out of the office and into the hall, guiding her to the steps. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Fabian would kill me if I did."

Nina let out a wet laugh which was really more of a sob and together they ran down the steps.

It was after the passed the 7th floor (Eddie was amazed and grateful that they had made it that far) when things started to go wrong.

By this point, most of the office had either evacuated or were hiding. Somehow they had lost the crowd, and they were the only ones in the open stairwell. It was in this moment that a gun went off.

"Eddie!" Nina screamed. "He's behind us."

"Not quite," he panted. "His angle is all wrong. Keep running!"

"Did you really think I wouldn't find you?" Mark White said coldly, gaining on them. "I knew who to look for the entire time and I had a plan. It was just a matter of creating a little chaos, getting everyone to move around. How else would I have found you in such a big office?"

"Keep running!" Eddie instructed.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," White said from behind them. "My _angle _has corrected itself. I can shoot Ms. Rutter right here from the landing of the 3rd floor if I want to."

Eddie hadn't even realized they had made it another three flight of stairs.

"Eddie," Nina whimpered.

Since both of them weren't facing White, Eddie hardly knew if it was a lie or not. He couldn't take his chances though. Not with Nina.

"Turn around," he whispered.

White seemed content enough to let them have a little exchange, as most deranged people tended to be. It was all a game to him.

"I'm really scared," Nina said, her voice breaking.

Eddie wordlessly grabbed his friend's hand and spun them around, praying for the police to find them. He knew they were already in the building. It was just a moment of finding them.

"Thanks for cooperating," White said calmly. "Rather nice of you. It's a shame though. I'm going to shoot her anyways."

What proceeded next happened so fast that Eddie was no longer aware of what was happening, his mind racing on adrenaline and fear alone.

A trigger went off, surprising both Eddie and Nina.

Not able to place where it was coming from, he jumped in front of Nina without a second thought, shielding her body with his own and tackling her to the ground.

Nina landed on the carpeted floor with a solid thwack but since Eddie had been on the outside, there was nowhere for him to land but down. His body rolled down the remaining couple flights of stairs, his head hitting the ground with an ominous crack.

He couldn't tell if he was shot or if anything was broken.

In fact after taking that tumble, he knew nothing more at all.

The last thing he heard was someone shouting his name.

* * *

**A/N:**

I don't know if the situation with Eddie's office being targeted is realistic (it's probably not) but roll with me! I guess I'm taking a bit of creative license with reality for the sake of shaking things up a bit. It's a crazy world and I suppose anything can happen so hopefully it's not a completely unbelievable plot line. I admit it's a bit of a stretch though. That's my disclaimer, so just stick with me and enjoy the drama.

Oh and feel free to get mad at me over the cliffhanger.

...Oops?! -hides-


	18. Chapter 19

**A/N:**

I received quite the animated response to the last chapter - thank you for all the comments and requests to update soon! The fun thing about ending on cliffhangers is I often hear from new people in addition to my regular reviewers so hello to all those new pen names I didn't recognize. Just a quick warning - this fic has 2 more chapters and then a brief epilogue so we're officially getting close to the end.

It's still March here, we're picking up where we left off.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

Nina was screaming.

Her mind couldn't process what was happening, it all seemed unreal. One moment she was racing down the stairs with Eddie and the next moment he was pushing her behind him before falling down the stairs, slumping into stillness on the cold marble floor.

Oh god. There had been a gunshot too, hadn't there?

She stopped screaming, her mind demanding her to pull herself together.

Had Eddie been shot?

Her stomach twisted into knots and she found herself fighting the nausea down.

He couldn't have been!

"It's alright, Mrs. Rutter. Just stay still."

Nina was dimly aware that a police officer was speaking to her and finally her mind unlocked, her body able to move once again. She turned around and spotted White sprawled out at the top of the third floor, clutching at his leg, groaning, his face pale._  
_

And that's when everything clicked.

The police had found them in time. Eddie hadn't been shot, the gunman had been. It was like one of those classic action movies or thrillers where the bad guy got nabbed just when things were looking bad and everyone else prevailed.

Except that wasn't quite the case.

White hadn't been fatally wounded. He would be facing some hefty criminal charges after recovering. And Eddie wasn't okay either.

_Eddie._

Ignoring the police officer's instructions, Nina found herself charging down the remaining steps. She sank to the ground next to Eddie's prone form and cautiously put her hands on his shoulders. "Eddie," she said, her voice shaking with fear. "Eddie!" Alarmed when he didn't stir, Nina found herself gently nudging him, praying that her friend was alright.

"Don't move him!" a second police officer commanded sternly, arriving at Nina's side. He dropped to a knee and felt for a pulse, rising to his feet with a satisfied nod. "We've called for an ambulance and he's breathing. We don't know where he's hurt, so don't jostle him."

Nina nodded numbly, moving back an inch but still protectively hovering over her friend. She looked up and blinked warily, taking in the loud static of radios and telephones and the steady buzz of police jargon for the first time.

She could hear sirens blaring and she was pretty sure she saw a flash go off. If it was one of her colleague's, she was going to be furious. The idea of someone putting a headline above one of their own fellow colleague's welfare made her furious, but she was too shocked to summon the energy to say anything.

"He's bleeding," one of the officers reported. "I don't think it's too bad but he's out cold. I can't bring him around."

Nina twisted her hands together, anxious and afraid. It was nerve-wracking, not knowing how badly Eddie was injured. It was even more stressful thinking of Patricia and Fabian. They must have heard the news by now, they'd be so worried...

She snapped out of it and stepped back as the emergency medical team finally arrived. Eddie was gently moved onto a board before being transported and strapped onto a gurney.

She walked beside the gurney as it was wheeled outside to the ambulance and swallowed hard.

"Only one person can come in the ambulance with him," the paramedic said. "It would be useful if that someone was are of his medical information and insurance. That kind of thing."

Nina was about to offer even though she knew none of those things when another voice sounded from behind them.

"I'll go," Patricia said firmly, her eyes wild with fear. She was craning her neck and trying to see Eddie.

A wave of relief hit Nina. There was yellow caution tape all over the place but she had no doubt that Patricia had pushed her way through.

"How did you know he was hurt?" Nina asked as Eddie was being loaded into the ambulance.

"The two of you are all over the new, lucky guess," Patricia mumbled softly, looking like she was about to cry. "What happened?"

"He hasn't been shot," Nina said quickly, hoping to comfort her friend. "The only reason he's hurt at all was because he was trying to protect me. I'm sorry."

Patricia climbed in the ambulance and shook her head. "Not your fault." She didn't have time to say more, the emergency vehicle pulled away.

"He's going to need a CT scan," the paramedic seated in the back explained. "He hit his head. From what I saw, all of the floors and stairs are carpeted but the lobby is not. If he hit his head while falling he's probably better off than if he hit it on impact with the actual floor."

She nodded in understanding, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes as her mind began to process what was happening. Eddie was potentially badly injured and she was so scared.

What would she do if he wasn't okay? If there was some kind of brain damage? If he lost his memory? If he didn't recover?

She tried to ignore her traitorous, pessimistic mind and focused on answering the paramedic's remaining questions. "His name is Eddie Sweet."

Patricia gasped as Eddie reached for her hand and caught it in hers.

"Hi." His voice was soft and vaguely cheerful as he attempted to sit up and take in his surroundings.

Patricia clutched at his hand, actively working to keep herself from weeping with relief. "Eddie! I though...I..."

Even completely out of it, Eddie seemed to understand. He squeezed her hand a little harder before cringing. "Head hurts."

"It's head trauma," Patricia explained, choked. "And who knows where else you managed to injure yourself." A little bit of irrational anger seeped into Patricia's tone and she tried to stamp it out. By now, the paramedic had informed her how Eddie had fallen and the picture of him rolling down multiple flights of steps made her blood run cold.

"I'll be okay," Eddie breathed, trying to be reassuring. Patricia must have looked doubtful because he attempted to sit up again, to not look so useless. "S'okay," he insisted.

This time the paramedic held him back with a frown. He shined something into his eyes and jotted something down.

Which was really good timing on his part, because a minute later, Eddie's eyes slipped closed and his hand went limp, still clasped in Patricia's.

* * *

Hospitals weren't nearly as dramatic as made out to be on television and in movies.

The ER was startlingly quiet for a place that was supposed to be an absolute madhouse. The tension in the air was palpable, what with dozens of families sitting around stiffly awaiting news for their respective loved ones. But it wasn't loud.

People obediently filled out the numerous forms, seeming to realize that fighting with the secretary manning the desk would be of no use.

Patricia considered breaking the trend and creating a scene, but there was no need.

Eddie had been sought to almost immediately once the circumstances of his injury had been revealed.

"Eddie Sweet. Target of Mark White's," one of the paramedics had explained, voice grim.

That seemed to catch the staff's attention because Patricia could have sworn that usually CT scans and ER tests took longer. Eddie was wheeled around from place to place (thankfully awake though terribly disoriented), until he didn't come back.

Patricia was sitting up straight, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. So far, Eddie had been carted around the ER every fifteen minutes or so, but this time he hadn't been back for over a half hour. What was happening?

She briefly glanced down at her cellphone and berated herself for not taking care of this sooner.

2 missed calls from Nina, 3 from Fabian, 6 from Mr. Sweet, 8 from Ms. Miller, 2 from Piper, 2 from her father, and 5 from her mother.

Her call logs were so intimidating that she didn't dare check her text messages.

The first thing she did was call Ms. Miller because she lived close by and could be at the hospital within an hour. The next person she called was Mr. Sweet. Both calls were difficult, and it pained her to hear her future in laws so worried, but after assuring them that Eddie hadn't been shot, both of them were calmer.

While waiting for news on Eddie, she called the rest of the people on her list and promised to update them soon.

Just as she was hanging up after talking to a still distraught Nina, a nurse appeared.

"Ms. Williamson?"

"Yes?" Patricia rose in anticipation. "How is he?"

"Quite well, all things considered," the nurse said with a warm smile. "Your husband is suffering from a minor concussion and mild head trauma. Taking into the account the severity of his fall, he's actually quite lucky he didn't completely crack his head open. He did require minor stitches above his right eyebrow and has a badly sprained ankle. Other than that, he's just been banged up a bit. There is some bruising."

Head injuries were tricky things and the negative part of Patricia had been expecting something much worse. She breathed deeply, instantly feeling lighter, a load of stress gone.

"So he'll be okay," she whispered.

The nurse nodded again, her eyes kind. "Yes. He's been moved to a private room. If you'd like to see him...?"

Patricia wordlessly followed her down the hall.

* * *

A doctor had stepped inside to check on Eddie again and give Patricia more details like no internal bleeding, a rather excellent thing. She sat by Eddie's bedside, exhausted, but too anxious to sleep.

He didn't look so terrible. There was a white bandage covering the stitches above his right eyebrow and a bruise on his left cheek. His face was unusually pale and Patricia couldn't see the other bruises but she knew they were there. The other thing she spotted was his elevated ankle.

As she raised her hands above her head to stretch, her phone slid off her lap and clattered to the tile floor, making a fair amount of noise. She swore and picked up. When she glanced at the bed, she breathed sharply.

"You're awake."

"Guess so," Eddie mumbled blearily, his eyes fluttering open.

Seeing him awake, semi alert, and officially stabilized was almost too much for Patricia to take. She sniffled, feeling the onslaught of tears coming.

"I'm so mad at you," she whispered. "But I'm glad you're okay."

Eddie groaned as he shifted, reaching out to pat Patricia's arm. "Mad?"

"For writing that article. For publishing it. For playing hero. For getting hurt."

"Patricia - "

"For scaring me! For giving me an idea of what it would be like if you weren't in my life and you just can't do that to me again, you _can't._"

And then she was blubbering, the hot tears falling fast.

Eddie was apologizing, over and over, but Patricia could hardly hear him over her sobs. It wasn't even his fault though, and the fact that he was saying sorry just made her cry harder.

He finally stopped trying to talk over her and clutched at her hand, pulling her towards him. It was awkward, guiding Patricia onto the tiny hospital bed, but he managed it. And then she was in his arms (_finally) _and he held her as she cried, mumbling things about almost losing him and wanting to kill him and who knows what else, he could barely understand.

Eventually, she ran out of tears and she sat up and sniffled. "Sorry," she murmured, mildly horrified at the fact that she had needed the comforting instead of the other way around.

"S'okay," Eddie murmured as his eyelids began to droop.

In between Patricia's fit, a nurse had come in and given him his pain medication and it was beginning to kick in.

"You should go home," he slurred.

Patricia sniffled and dabbed at her eyes, finally content and secure in the knowledge that everything was going to be okay.

"Not a chance."

* * *

"Talk about unwanted publicity," Eddie complained, casting the newspaper aside and shutting the television off.

News of White's capture and Eddie's near miss had traveled fast and ever since, his phone and their doorbell and been ringing and buzzing nonstop. Reporters, colleagues, friends, family, random old acquaintances who suddenly wanted to be close again...

They were hearing from anyone and everyone.

Patricia smiled quietly and snuck a glance at her fiancé from behind her computer screen. He was seated on their bed resting his ankle while Patricia worked from home for a bit to take care of him and make sure his recovery was going smoothly.

His eyes were flashing with emotion, his hands waving all over the place as he babbled on and on about media misrepresentation or something.

Patricia wasn't actually listening so she wouldn't know.

She was more preoccupied with taking in the difference between a few days ago and now. It had been unsettling, seeing Eddie dazed and out of it for extended periods of time. He had been uncharacteristically quiet, trying to cope with the shock and pain.

But Patricia could see that Eddie was feeling better and she was beyond grateful.

Shutting her laptop, she joined him on the bed and pressed a quick, chaste kiss to his lips.

"Love you," she said.

"I love you too," Eddie replied dumbly, mid rant.

"Okay, now repeat after me. I will not get hurt again because if I do, my fiancee will be the youngest woman to suffer from a heart attack."

Eddie grinned. "I will not get hurt again because if I do, my fiancee will cry and I hate when she does that."

"Eddie," Patricia complained.

"Patriciaaaa," he whined, mocking her.

For a while they just sat there until eventually he rested his head on her shoulder, breathing in deep.

"I'm okay," he promised.

Patricia nodded, finally at peace. "I know you are."

* * *

**A/N:**

As if I'd let anything happen to our precious Eddie :)


	19. Chapter 20

**A/N:**

Ok so this chapter has a lot of pre-wedding shenanigans in it. The thing is I've only been to a couple of weddings and I'm not really into chick flicks so I don't know a whole lot about bachelor parties and rehearsal dinners and all that good stuff. So I'll be the first one to say that I've glossed over fine detail but the Peddie feels are nice and strong so it all balances out :)

So most of this chapter takes place in September - at the night before the wedding! I fast forwarded time a tad.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

It took a few weeks for the doctors to declare Eddie concussion free. It took another month for the pain in his ankle to disappear and for his numerous bruises to fade. But by the beginning of June, he was feeling fantastic and properly spoiled by Patricia.

The whirlwind of newspaper articles and interviews concerning Eddie and Nina died down and White received a harsh sentencing. But despite everything settling down, Patricia remained a little extra cautious, clingy even.

She no longer took Eddie for granted in the sense that she had a new sense of patience for him. When she was working from home and he'd prattle on and disturb her, instead of snapping, she'd half-heartedly listen instead. When reading a book, she'd let Eddie lay his head on her lap and try to read at the same time instead of shoving him aside like normal.

Basically, she welcomed _all_ of Eddie's numerous cuddle advances, something that he took full advantage of.

Since they had spent most of last summer apart while Eddie was promoting his book, they spent most of this one together. Granted, much of that time was dedicated towards wedding planning but between that and work, the two of them made sure they had time for themselves.

In addition to that, Fabian had been constantly been inviting them to dinner every weekend. He was a good cook and he had somehow gotten it into his head that feeding Eddie at every available opportunity was a good way of trying to repay him for everything he'd done for Nina.

After the attack on the office, both Fabian and Nina had visited the hospital, eager to check on their friend and say their thanks. But it had been Fabian who had nearly bought out the hospital gift store, his arms full of cards, chocolates, and stuffed bears for his best friend.

Overall, the summer had been glorious.

Patricia's family came to visit and so did Eddie's father. From September onwards, they'd all be staying in New York to help with the arrangements, but it was nice having everyone visit for a week in the middle, just to spend time.

* * *

"So as your best man, I have to ask. What kind of bachelor party would you like?" Fabian asked.

"Who said you were my best man?" Eddie challenged.

"What? But you asked me...and I...because you..." Fabian was spluttering to Eddie's endless source of amusement.

"Just kidding, best man," Eddie said cheerfully, enjoying his friend's confusion.

"Very funny," Fabian said good-naturedly, smiling a little. "No, but seriously. According to wikipedia - "

"You have a quote from wikipedia?" It took all of Eddie's concentration not to laugh.

"Yes." Fabian's voice was impatient. "After the article is done talking about strip clubs and alcohol, there's a part I wanted to read to you. Ahem. _In recent years, however, the "traditional" bachelor party with drinking and strippers has often changed to a less rowdy and more reflecting time with friends. Many grooms to be have instead been treated to camping trips with friends, fishing trips, pizza contests, baseball games, video games, poker, barbecuing, and other activities."_

Eddie didn't answer and Fabian rubbed the back of his neck, nervous. "So...should I just go ahead and plan something a little less traditional? Just because I'm not into the whole stripper thing doesn't mean I wouldn't organize it for you. I can do that if you want. I can - "

"Nope." Patricia said flatly, squashing Fabian's train of thought. "Absolutely no to the classic boys go wild idea." She smiled sweetly at her fiancé. "You don't mind, right, _darling?"_

"Not at all, _sweetheart," _Eddie snickered.

It's not that the pair of them didn't use pet names here and there, but he could tell when Patricia was trying to be endearing and when she was just causing trouble.

"You heard the woman," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Plan whatever you want, but no going wild. The future wife declares it so."

Patricia nodded approvingly before disappearing into the kitchen to discuss cakes with Nina.

"Oh, good," Fabian said relieved. "I'll take care of everything."

* * *

Fabian wasn't exactly known for being original.

In the end, he ended up organizing a trip to Portland with him and Eddie and some of Eddie's closest friends.

Eddie had been very delicate about his phrasing, careful not to hurt his best man's feelings but he had to ask what was so special about Portland. Fabian's response had consisted of a laundry list of cool things to do which included revolving restaurants and fun harbors and boardwalks. But the most impressive part of his answer was LeakyCon, a Harry Potter themed convention.

Ever the book nerd and not so secret fan boy, Eddie had been ecstatic. The trip had been everything Fabian had promised and more.

Eddie had gotten the chance to get away from the city, which despite being his home, _could_ get a little bit stifling. He got to run away from last minute wedding arrangements, the stress of having his parents in the same room, and having to entertain his future-in-laws. And yes, he didn't even mind getting a little break from Patricia.

He loved her with all his heart, but they had the rest of their lives to spend together. Taking a week off to go to the west coast and just kind of enjoy life and even the little things like something like Harry Potter...it had just been nice. It had been the first time he'd been away from Patricia in a while, and though he missed her, it was still refreshing.

"So did you have fun?" Fabian asked.

They were taking a morning flight so that they could be on the east coast by the afternoon. It would be tough, racing from the airport to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. But ever the careful planner, Fabian had ensured that even the flight got delayed, they would still be back in time.

"So much fun, thank you," Eddie rested his head against the window and watched the Portland city lights grow smaller. "The convention was an awesome surprise. I didn't think you'd get that creative."

Fabian laughed. "Well, you're a lot simpler than me, so it was hard to think of a theme. In the end, I figured your favorite childhood series was the way to go."

"Good choice," Eddie praised. "You're right though. Planning your party was so easy."

"The Egyptian themed party at the Met?" Fabian grinned. "Yeah, that was brilliant."

"And feasible since you work there as a conservator. Otherwise it would have been impossible, booking a space there for a wedding event. We're lucky that museum loves you and your nerdiness."

"Says the guy that writes for a living," Fabian retorted. "So you think the girls had fun?"

"Probably," Eddie guessed. "Honestly, these past couple of days Patricia and I have barely been talking. I was busy with you guys so I'm sure she's been busy with her friends too."

"That doesn't bother you?" Fabian asked. "That you guys didn't talk much this past week?"

Eddie shook his head.

"I guess you nearly cracking your head open gave the two of you some perspective, huh?"

"It's not really that, although I will say that we've fought a lot less since then," Eddie replied. "We're just secure as a couple, you know? Although...yeah. Landing up in the hospital certainly didn't hurt in terms of getting Patricia's attention. She definitely loves me a little more."

He beamed innocently and Fabian was absurdly pleased, knowing his best friend had found a love as great as his own.

* * *

Nina took inspiration from what Eddie did for Fabian and did something similar for Patricia.

She had booked a hall and decorated the entire thing with a London theme.

Patricia had known she was headed for her own bachelorette party, but she hadn't known what to expect. When she had walked in and seen a United Kingdom flag hanging from the ceiling and a miniature double decker bus photo opp stand, she had understood what Nina had been trying to do.

The entire hall was flooded with the British theme, from mock Buckingham Palace guards at the hall entrance to a Big Ben made out of leggos.

"So what do you think?" Nina asked nervously. "I know we know each other through Eddie so I haven't known you as long as some of your other friends might, but I'm hoping you like it."

It took a moment for Patricia to speak, she was so touched. "I _love _it." She reached out to touch one of the banners.

"Oh, good," Nina said, relieved. "I know you moved here to get away from there, so I wasn't sure if you'd like it or hate it."

Patricia grinned. "I moved here to get away from people, not the place itself. You're fine. This is amazing."

"Well then, enjoy!" Nina hooked her arm through Patricia's and led her to the middle of the room.

She had invited a lot of Patricia's law school friends and even some of her undergrad ones.

Patricia looked around in awe, seeing all the familiar faces.

"You really did your research," Patricia commented, astounded.

"Cheers," Nina clinked her glass with Patricia's and beamed.

* * *

"This is insanity," Eddie muttered as he adjusted his suit jacket in the airport bathroom.

"It's not ideal," Fabian agreed. "But we do have a rehearsal dinner to go to."

"Yeah. mine." Eddie glanced at his reflection in the mirror, decidedly satisfied. "Glad this thing didn't get too wrinkled. How are we on time?"

Fabian checked his watch. "Decent. If we head straight for the dinner, we'll be plenty early. How nervous do you think Patricia is though?"

"Probably, very," Eddie pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. "Her party was last night so today she's probably been busy with dinner stuff."

His phone lit up, showing four missed calls and six text messages. All from Patricia.

Fabian laughed but Eddie just shrugged.

"I'm impressed, to be honest," he said. "I thought it would be much worse."

As they headed for the taxi stand, Eddie called her back. "We'll be there soon, don't worry. Love you." He shot Fabian a glare who was mouthing aw, struggling to make his hands form a heart.

"Shut up," Eddie said shortly as they climbed into the cab.

"You guys are adorable," Fabian replied cheekily.

* * *

They made it in plenty of time for the wedding rehearsal dinner.

Eddie had been casual about being away from Patricia, telling Fabian how he didn't mind the break. But when he saw her, he pulled her into a giant hug and kissed her in front of all their close relatives, ignoring her cries of "you're wrinkling my dress!"

When he released her, Patricia was blushing, and their respective families were cheering.

Eddie brushed his hand across her flushed cheek and smirked. "You better get used to PDA, because there's going to be a whole lot of that at the wedding and reception."

She scowled. "Let's just get through this, first."

"One thing at a time," he agreed.

They had known that the wedding was coming for ages, but somehow, it had still snuck up on them.

"I can't believe this is happening," Patricia murmured, after Mr. Sweet strode up to the couple, wishing them the best.

The rehearsal dinner was meant to put the bride and groom and respective families and close friends at ease, and for the most part it did. Patricia, though, was having trouble wrapping her mind around the concept.

"This is crazy," she said, at the end of the dinner, when they had said goodbye to the last guest.

"A little," Eddie replied. "It's a good crazy though. Don't you dare get scared and back at now. That would be unacceptable."

"No running off with that other guy I've been pining for this whole time?" Patricia grinned.

"Yeah, none of that," Eddie's lips curled into a smile. "That would make for an awful Hollywood movie."

"Well, that storyline makes up about half of them."

"You're not wrong," Eddie said grimly, before pulling Patricia in for a deep, sweet kiss.

"What was that for?" she asked, a little breathless.

"I missed you," he said. "Also. We're getting _married _tomorrow."

"Stuck with you for life," she laughed.

He linked their hands together and nodded, positively delighted. "You know it."

* * *

**A/N:**

You probably see what I mean about skimping out on the pre-wedding details =P

One more chapter and an epilogue!


	20. Chapter 21

**A/N:**

THIS STORY CROSSED 400 REVIEWS. Thank you all for spoiling me with all the encouragement and kind words - it's really been inspiring :)

The wedding chapter is finally here! Even though there were weeks where I had zero spare time to update and this fic dragged along, somehow the ending STILL snuck up on me. I can't believe it's almost over. Weird, right?

I hope the wedding scenes aren't a failure. I tried. Oh and I carried the name Sweet through this fic and I didn't feel like going back and changing it to Miller, so that's what we're going with here.

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

"Why are we giving in to wedding cliches?" Patricia clutched the phone closer to her ear as though that would make Eddie be closer to her.

"You're joking, right?" Eddie's loud laughter rumbled through the speaker phone. "Our relationship is one big cliche."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

Eddie cringed upon hearing Patricia's demanding tone. "Um. I don't actually know," he admitted. "I just kind of say things without speaking. Like, a lot."

"I noticed," Patricia said, her voice softening. "It's just that...I miss you. I feel like we should be together tonight."

Eddie excused himself from Fabian's living room and retreated to the small balcony that looked out onto the river. It made him feel calm and he had a feeling that he was the one who was going to have to keep it together in this conversation. He stared into the horizon for a second before responding.

"Wedding cliches insist that we stay apart," he reminded her. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that good stuff."

"Which brings me back to my original question: _why are we giving in to wedding cliches?" _Patricia huffed.

"Which brings me back to my original answer," Eddie shot back primly. "Our relationship is one big cliche."

Patricia rolled her eyes even though she knew Eddie couldn't see. She didn't reply right away, content to listen to Eddie's breathing. That probably made her some kind of creeper, but he seemed to understand, because he didn't press her to speak.

"I'm scared," she whispered.

"I know," he said gently. "But think about it like this. We're basically already married. We're just throwing a party and getting a fancy certificate to tell us what we already know. It's not a big deal."

"You don't think our wedding is a big deal?"

Eddie winced as Patricia's voice grew tense. "No, no, that's not what I meant. Of course it is. All I'm saying is, we're going to be okay. Tomorrow is going to be fun."

"You're too perfect," she accused. "It's the guy that's supposed to get cold feet."

Eddie stiffened. "You're getting cold feet? What?"

Patricia smacked her forehead. "No! Okay, I think we should hang up. Talking right now is clearly a bad idea. We're both too nervous for this. We're going to wind up fighting the night before our wedding."

"I don't want that," Eddie said quickly. "But wait. Before I hang up...I just want to let you know, I'm excited to hear your wedding vows. I'm glad you agreed to write them yourself."

Patricia fiddled with the ends of her hair and sighed. "Don't remind me about that. I spent a lot of time writing those but it still sucks, you have been warned. I'm not a writer like you."

"It'll be fine," Eddie said dismissively into the phone. "Okay, good night."

"I love you," Patricia whispered softly.

"I love you too. With all my heart, I - "

"Oh, shut up!"

Eddie chuckled and let the line go dead. He hadn't planned on finishing that sentence but he loved spouting random poetry at Patricia; it made her embarrassed and awkward and he thought it was adorable.

That was never going to get old.

* * *

Everything was all set and for the most part it had all gone to plan.

Even if it hadn't, Patricia was too nervous to recognize otherwise. The table decor was a shade lighter than it should have been, but she didn't notice at all. It was sort of funny, because she had probably spent hours picking the color out. But now that the big day was here, it could be neon yellow for all she cared.

Nothing mattered but actually getting married. To Eddie. The most wonderful guy she had ever known.

Everyone was seated. The bridal carpet was rolled out and Eddie strode to the alter looking poised and confident. After him came the ring bearer and flower girl. The bridesmaids and groomsmen followed, Nina and Fabian trailing at the end, maid of honor and best man respectively.

And then it was her turn.

She felt nauseous. She wanted to do this, she had been waiting for this day for months. But now that it was actually here, she could feel her face heating up, her eyes growing wet. Her chest felt like it was tightening and she felt like she was going to throw up, she was so nervous.

"Sweetheart, if you cry, you're going to ruin your makeup. If you puke, you're going to run your dress. Neither of those things are acceptable, correct?"

Her father's gentle, teasing voice instantly made her feel better.

Not to mention he was _right_. She didn't have time to fall apart. She had to get married.

"You're right," she said shakily.

Patricia reached up to wipe away the couple of tears that had leaked but Samuel beat her to it, brushing them away.

"It's our cue," he said softly.

And with those words, the doors opened, and they walked straight for the aisle.

She could feel everyone staring at them, but she kept her eyes trained forward, staring at Eddie. She didn't realize it, but seeing him in his crisp suit and neat hair with that stupid grin on his face was making her smile too.

Some of the nerves melted away and she managed to make it to the front without tripping.

The priest cleared his throat and began. There were a lot of words that were said, but the only ones that really mattered were their vows; what they chose to say to each other. And finally, it was time to say them.

"Patricia," Eddie began. "I wrote you a poem. It was sappy and beautiful and pretty much everything you hate. So I thew it out the moment I realized you'd beat me up in front of hundreds of people and mess up my suit. I really like this suit so..."

He paused and a couple people chuckled, amused and curious to see what Eddie would say next. Patricia let out a soft giggle of disbelief and Eddie beamed.

"They day you moved in to my apartment...the day I offered to help you with those moving boxes...that was the most important day of my life, Patricia. More important than all the other milestones in our relationship because that was when we first met. It's funny, because before I met you, I thought I was happy. But it turns out I didn't know what happiness was because back then was nothing compared to now. I'm _so _happy Patricia, ridiculously so. And it's all because of you. I've been enchanted by you since day one and I'm privileged that I get to continue to be so, every day for the rest of our lives. I love you. I will _always _love you. And I promise to always prove it to you, to take care of you, and to just be there for you. Oh, and I memorized the poem, so I can recite that too if you want."

Patricia cast him a wobbly smile and shook her head, another breathless laugh escaping her lips. Their guests were awing and she was pretty sure half of them had just fallen in love with Eddie.

"I know you toned down the writers speak for me, but that was still incredibly beautiful," Patricia murmured. "I'm not a writer. And even if I was, I still don't think I'd be able to express my feelings as well as you. We're really different people, Eddie. But when it comes to the things that matter, we're absolutely the same. I love you for putting up with me when I was difficult, for trying hard enough to get us to the point where we are now. If you hadn't been so persistent, I probably could have stayed in my shell forever and not realized what I was missing. Um..."

"Thank you for showing me what I was missing," Patricia continued. "I love you too. So much. As in I didn't realize I could love someone so much. And everything you do for me, I will do for you. Except better."

Eddie chuckled, his eyes suspiciously wet. He glanced at the priest, waiting for permission to do what he so desperately wanted to do.

And a handful of magical words later, Eddie stepped forward and dipped Patricia, kissing her like he had never kissed her before.

* * *

"Your vows were amazing," Eddie whispered into Patricia's hair as he twirled her around the dance floor.

It was the first dance and they were doing well.

"Yours too," she said back, sounding shy.

"I especially liked the part about you being better than me. Very interesting words to say in front of hundreds of people."

Patricia resisted shooting him one of her famous looks. There were too many people watching them, so instead she smiled as sweetly as she could. "As interesting as declaring your love for a suit you'll never wear again?"

"Touche," Eddie admitted. "Hey, so, dance classes were a good idea, Mrs. Sweet"

Patricia let Eddie do the leading, smiling into his shoulder. "What a deceptive last name. We're anything but sweet."

"I'm a freaking angel," Eddie disagreed. "You though..."

She half heartedly slapped his shoulder as more people began to flood the dance floor.

After that, the night flew by.

There was dinner, there was cake, there was an extremely emotional toast by Fabian and then a perfectly normal one by Nina.

There was of course an open dance floor too, but Patricia and Eddie were too busy being greeted and congratulated.

Now that they were married and Patricia's mind had resumed functioning, she was beginning to realize how much she _wanted _Eddie.

"I want to get out of here," she muttered.

"You and me both," Eddie said with a strained laugh, eyeing her delicately curled hair and perfectly fitting dress. "Soon," he promised.

Patricia's parents spent a decent amount of time talking to Eddie, and Eddie's parents did the same with Patricia.

_Finally, _every guest had said their piece and Patricia and Eddie climbed into the car, ready to get away from it all.

The night had flown by, Patricia could hardly believe it.

They waved goodbye to all their guests, waiting till their get away car was out of sight before kissing sloppily.

"Our flight to Greece doesn't leave for another six hours. Let's have wedding sex," Eddie proposed breathlessly, his hair mussed, his tie askew.

"What happened to mister delicate writer?" Patricia raise her eyebrows, shoving her _husband _aside.

"Turns out he's not as talented as he thought he was," Eddie said playfully.

The car pulled in front of their apartment so they could get a couple hours of rest before heading for the airport.

Eddie helped his bride out of the car and then his eyes bore into hers, serious and intense. "I love you. So much."

Patricia got on her tiptoes and kissed her jaw. "I love you too. You're the second best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Second?" Eddie challenged. "And do tell, what's the first?"

Patricia grinned. "I don't know. Moving into your apartment building? _I just kind of say things without speaking. Like, a lot." _

She mimicked Eddie's words from the previous night with a cheeky smile, her eyes mischievous.

Eddie groaned and pressed their bodies together, slamming his hand onto the elevator button before guiding his wife back to their apartment.

Their life was going to be so, so good.

No doubt about it.

* * *

**A/N:**

Um...I still don't know how to end chapters. But that's all there is. The end!

Well. There will of course be a short epilogue (don't know what I'm putting in it but it will be there) and a loooong AN to go along with it.

But basically, this is all there is. Thank you so much for joining me! It's been a pleasure :)


	21. Chapter 22

**A/N:**

I updated a little quicker than usual because I wanted to mark Tangible Happiness as complete and also because I'll be doing a lot of traveling the next day or two. I don't think I actually mentioned this, but I've been out of the country basically all summer and it's finally time to head home! So I babble a whole lot more at the end but for those who don't feel like reading that, I'll just say the essence of my message right here and now - THANK YOU :)

**Disclaimer: **House of Anubis belongs to Nickelodeon, not me.

* * *

**TWO YEARS LATER:**

Patricia spent all afternoon pondering how she planned on telling Eddie. She was late and considering that she never was, she knew what that meant. But just to be sure, she bought a pregnancy test after work.

_Positive_.

She went through the various cycle of emotions. First, she was horrified. But then she remembered she was a happily married adult whose parents would't disown her for getting knocked up. On the contrary, they would be thrilled.

Then came shock, elation, excitement, wonder, and then horror again.

Because although she and Eddie had always been clear about their intention to start a family, they hadn't discussed when that would be. What if he wasn't ready? What if he wouldn't be happy? And come to think of it; how did _she _feel?

She wasn't even sure.

But on the walk home from work she noticed every infant that crossed her path and she caught herself wondering when she would know if the child was a boy or girl so that she could start buying clothes and painting a nursery.

And that's when she knew how much she wanted this.

She entered the apartment and haphazardly tossed her keys on the mantel. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a photo frame with a picture of her and Eddie at their wedding reception; they looked obscenely happy.

In that moment she decided she needed Eddie. Now.

* * *

"Hi Patricia, what is it?" Eddie's voice was warm but soft. He was still at work and she knew not to call him unless it was important. "I told you I'm working late tonight. I'm in the middle of a project, so don't wait up."

"Is there any chance you can work late another night?"

Eddie blinked and held the phone away from his ear. Patricia's voice sounded off somehow, like something was wrong.

"Um. That depends." He excused himself from the conference room he was in and dashed out to the hall. "What's wrong?"

"I kind of need to tell you in person."

He was officially worried.

"You've got me kind of anxious, here. Can't you just tell me now?"

"I really can't," Patricia murmured. "I'll see you soon?"

"No, but I - " Eddie broke off and sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. I'll see you soon."

And with a terse apology, he exited the office earlier than expected.

What could be so important that she couldn't tell him on the phone? Oh god, what if it was something bad? What if someone had died? Or worse. What if Patricia was ill?

With these morbid thoughts swirling in his head, Eddie raced into the apartment building and charged up the steps, not bothering to wait for the elevator.

"Patricia!"

He let the door dramatically slam behind him as he rushed to his wife's side, frantic.

She was seated on the sofa, curled up in a pair of warm sweatpants from law school and one of Eddie's fleece sweatshirts. "Hi," she mumbled.

Eddie blinked. "Hi," he said, sounding dazed. He pushed the coffee table aside and dropped to his knees in front of her. "I'm here. Tell me. Whatever it is, we'll be fine, we - "

"I'm pregnant," she cut him off.

Her confession spilled from her lips with ease. (Not a surprise considering she had been practicing for the last hour.)

Eddie staggered to his feet and sank onto the sofa, next to Patricia.

"You're pregnant?" he asked.

She took in his shocked expression and bit her lip, feeling her eyes begin to well up. Oh no, he clearly wasn't pleased. He didn't want this. What would she do now?

"I knew you'd react like this. You don't want a baby!"

She jumped to her feet and shoved Eddie aside, growing more distraught by the second.

Eddie caught her arm, spinning her around. "Are you crazy?" he asked, bewildered.

"No!"

"Patricia, of course I want a baby!" Eddie exclaimed.

"You could have fooled me. Look at how you reacted! Like you went brain dead."

"Well, that's because I thought it was something _bad," _he said, aghast. "I thought you were dying!" he accused.

"Why would I be - _ohh," _Patricia breathed.

Eddie was a pretty straightforward guy, and having been with him for over three years, it wasn't hard to understand him. She immediately realized that he would have thought the worst when she called him home for work.

"I guess my phone call worried you." She sounded sheepish.

Eddie folded his arms across his chest and scowled. "A bit. Yeah."

"Well...I'm fine. More than fine because I'm pregnant. And we're both okay with it. You _are _okay with it, right?"

He broke out into a wide, excited grin, kissing her cheek with enthusiasm. "I'm _so _okay with it. You have _no _idea."

"Really?"

Eddie's smile grew impossibly bigger. He had a soft spot for the shy, vulnerable version of Patricia because that's how she was when they had first met.

"Yeah," he promised. "We're going to be amazing parents with one hell of a cute baby, it's going to be incredible."

And with his reassuring, joyful words, Patricia felt all her tension melt away.

Patricia's launched herself at him then, pulling him by the shirt collar so that there was no space between them. She paused for a second, taking in Eddie's mild surprise before enthusiastically pressing her lips to his.

She couldn't see his face anymore, but she knew he was still smiling.

Just like her.

Another chapter of their life was about to begin.

* * *

**A/N:**

And now it's officially over. As in for real.

Thank you to each and every one of you followed, favorited, and reviewed. The comments meant the world to me and I got so helpful feedback. But more than that, I got an endless stream of encouragement and motivation. TH has been a pleasure to write because of you! It was a little bit tougher than DT but that's only because it was a sequel and second parts can be tough. I could thank everyone all day and it still wouldn't be enough! You guys are all so amazing :)

I actively participate in a couple other fandoms and I've read a lot of excellent work. I've read enough to know that my writing is truly nothing special. I'm decent and I'm always striving to improve but you guys made me feel like I was already good so thanks for all the kind words again :)

I'm going to miss this universe A LOT (it's my favorite AU to write in!) but there will not be a third part. Ever. I'm set on that, so please don't ask!

I feel like a third part would become dull and too domestic. I considered writing about Eddie and Patricia having and raising their kids but then I decided against it. What I will probably do instead is set up another series of oneshots written in this universe. It will be structured a lot like NADM but make references to DT and TH. (So this series would have stuff like chapter 113 "Little Luke" from NADM.)

So that's all. My next story is already in progress so if you're looking for something to read, go check that out! It's called "Eloquence" and the first chapter has been posted so far. A bunch of you have already read it, but if you haven't and are sad this is over, come join me over there and we can distract ourselves with more fun peddie - me as the writer, you as the reader.

See you all over there!

Lots of love :*


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